Pre-empting Pandora's Box: Blastocystis Subtypes Revisited

Christen Rune Stensvold; C Graham Clark

doi:10.1016/j.pt.2019.12.009

Pre-empting Pandora's Box: Blastocystis Subtypes Revisited

Trends Parasitol. 2020 Mar;36(3):229-232. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2019.12.009. Epub 2020 Jan 27.

Authors

Christen Rune Stensvold¹, C Graham Clark²

Affiliations

¹ Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: run@ssi.dkrun@ssi.dk.
² London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

PMID: 32001133
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2019.12.009

Abstract

Blastocystis is a genetically diverse intestinal protist colonizing both human and non-human hosts. By 2013, 17 subtypes had been acknowledged. Since then, nine more subtypes have been proposed. We argue that several recently proposed subtypes are invalid. We also revisit recommendations regarding the requirements for annotating sequences as new subtypes.

Keywords: Blastocystis taxonomy; molecular epidemiology; sequencing.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Blastocystis / classification*
Blastocystis / genetics*
DNA, Protozoan / genetics
Humans
Molecular Sequence Annotation
Molecular Typing* / standards

Substances

DNA, Protozoan