Clinical <i>Trypanosoma cruzi</i> isolates share a common antigen repertoire that is absent from culture adapted strains.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chagas disease, a poorly understood and clinically heterogeneous disease. Recent work has demonstrated that parasites adapted to laboratory conditions are genomically variable, but little is known of the extent of genomic diversity from clinically isolated specimens.

Methods

In this retrospective observational genomic study, we isolated 15 T. cruzi specimens from three clinical studies of Chagas disease, representing different clinical contexts. We sequenced the genome of each strain and used single nucleotide variant (SNV) based analyses to estimate parasite genetic lineage, genomic population structure, regions of copy number plasticity, and to identify gene conversion events. In addition, we generated and annotated whole g

SUBMITTER: Hakim JMC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12157461 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature