Whole genome sequence and diversity in multigene families of Babesia ovis

Junya Yamagishi; Onur Ceylan; Xuenan Xuan; Ferda Sevinc

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2023.1194608

Whole genome sequence and diversity in multigene families of Babesia ovis

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023 Aug 1:13:1194608. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1194608. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Junya Yamagishi^{1

2}, Onur Ceylan³, Xuenan Xuan⁴, Ferda Sevinc³

Affiliations

¹ International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
² Global Station for Zoonosis Control, GI-CoRE, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
³ Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Selcuk, Konya, Türkiye.
⁴ National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan.

Abstract

Ovine babesiosis, caused by Babesia ovis, is an acute, lethal, and endemic disease worldwide and causes a huge economic loss to animal industry. Pathogen genome sequences can be utilized for selecting diagnostic markers, drug targets, and antigens for vaccine development; however, those for B. ovis have not been available so far. In this study, we obtained a draft genome sequence for B. ovis isolated from an infected sheep in Turkey. The genome size was 7.81 Mbp with 3,419 protein-coding genes. It consisted of 41 contigs, and the N₅₀ was 526 Kbp. There were 259 orthologs identified among eight Babesia spp., Plasmodium falciparum, and Toxoplasma gondii. A phylogeny was estimated on the basis of the orthologs, which showed B. ovis to be closest to B. bovis. There were 43 ves genes identified using hmm model as well. They formed a discriminating cluster to other ves multigene family of Babesia spp. but showed certain similarities to those of B. bovis, B. caballi, and Babesia sp. Xinjiang, which is consistent with the phylogeny. Comparative genomics among B. ovis and B. bovis elucidated uniquely evolved genes in these species, which may account for the adaptation.

Keywords: Babesia ovis; apicomplexa; comparative genomics; multigene families; ovine babesiosis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Babesia* / genetics
Babesiosis*
Genome Size
Genomics
Multigene Family
Sheep

Grants and funding

This work was partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (18KK0188) and the JSPS Core-to-Core program, both from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan, as well as a grant from the Strategic International Collaborative Research Project (JPJ008837) promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan.