Complete genomes of the eukaryotic poultry parasite Histomonas meleagridis: linking sequence analysis with virulence/attenuation

Background: Histomonas meleagridis is a protozoan parasite and the causative agent of histomonosis, an important poultry disease whose significance is underlined by the absence of any treatment and prophylaxis. The recent successful in vitro attenuation of the parasite urges questions about the underlying mechanisms. Results: Whole genome sequence data from a virulent and an attenuated strain originating from the same parental lineage of H. meleagridis were recruited using Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) and Illumina platforms, which were combined to generate megabase-sized contigs with high base-level accuracy. Inspecting the genomes for differences identified two substantial deletions within a coding sequence of the attenuated strain. Additionally, one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and indel targeting coding sequences caused the formation of premature stop codons, which resulted in the truncation of two genes in the attenuated strain. Furthermore, the genome of H. meleagridis was used for characterizing protein classes of clinical relevance for parasitic protists. The comparative analysis with the genomes of Trichomonas vaginalis, Tritrichomonas foetus and Entamoeba histolytica identified similar to 2700 lineage-specific gene losses and 9 gene family expansions in the H. meleagridis lineage. Conclusions: Taken as a whole, the obtained data provide the first hints to understand the molecular basis of attenuation in H. meleagridis and constitute a genomics platform for future research on this important poultry pathogen.

Automated summary

The study used Oxford Nanopore Technology and Illumina platforms to compare the genomes of the virulent and attenuated strains of Histomonas meleagridis, revealing significant gene deletions and premature stop codons in the attenuated strain. Comparative analysis with other parasitic protists genomes showed unique gene losses and gene family expansions in the H. meleagridis lineage.