Details:

Alternative Title:
J Eukaryot Microbiol
Personal Author:
Qvarnstrom, Yvonne ; Nerad, Thomas A. ; Visvesvara, Govinda S.
Qvarnstrom, Yvonne ; Nerad, Thomas A. ; Visvesvara, Govinda S. Less -
Description:
Acanthamoeba spp. are free-living amoebae that are ubiquitous in natural environments. They can cause cutaneous, nasopharyngeal, and disseminated infection, leading to granulomatous amebic encephalitis (GAE) in immunocompromised individuals. In addition, they can cause amoebic keratitis in contact lens wearers. Acanthamoeba GAE is almost always fatal because of difficulty and delay in diagnosis and lack of optimal antimicrobial therapy. Here, we report the description of an unusual strain isolated from skin and brain of a GAE patient. The amoebae displayed large trophozoites and star-shaped cysts, characteristics for acanthamoebas belonging to morphology Group 1. However, its unique morphology and growth characteristics differentiated this new strain from other Group 1 species. DNA sequence analysis, secondary structure prediction, and phylogenetic analysis of the 18S rRNA gene confirmed that this new strain belonged to Group 1, but that it was distinct from the other sequence types within that group. Thus, we hereby propose the establishment of a new species, Acanthamoeba byersi n. sp. as well as a new sequence type, T18, for this new strain. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a Group 1 Acanthamoeba that is indisputably pathogenic in humans.
Subject:
[+]
18S RRNA Gene
Acanthamoeba
Article
Brain
Central Nervous System Protozoal Infections
Cluster Analysis
DNA, Protozoan
DNA, Ribosomal
Fatal Outcome
Genes, RRNA
Group 1 Acanthamoeba
Human Isolate
Humans
Male
Microscopy
Middle Aged
Models, Molecular
Molecular Sequence Data
Nuclear Small Subunit Ribosomal RNA Gene
Nucleic Acid Conformation
Phylogeny
Ribosomal Secondary Structure
RNA, Protozoan
RNA, Ribosomal, 18S
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Sequence Type T18
Skin

Source:
J Eukaryot Microbiol. 60(6):626-633
Pubmed ID:
23879685
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC4618466
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:0ea19efc5ac5ab3e7d800cc3891ce597fc0a24dd9a87e1111dfe65fab9716cde
File Type:

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