2010/11/01 by Jon Jerlström-Hultqvist, Johan Ankarklev, Staffan G. Svärd · 1 citation
Immunology and Microbiology · #Parasitic Infections and Diagnostics #Biology #Giardia #Genome #Gene #Genetics
paper · pdf · doi:10.4161/gmic.1.6.13608
openalex publication_date 2010/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
We have recently sequenced the genome of the human Giardia intestinalis assemblage B isolate GS.1 comparisons to the earlier sequenced genome of the human assemblage A isolate WB showed that the average amino acid identity in 4,300 orthologous proteins was only 78%. Here we discuss these results in the light of new genome sequencing data from the hoofed-animal assemblage E (isolate P15, isolated from a pig) and further characterization of assemblage A and B isolates from humans. There is a highly conserved set of core genes (4,557 genes, 91% of genome) common to all isolates. The largest genomic differences are found in variable, Giardia-specific gene families and a large number of chromosomal rearrangements were detected, even between different chromosomes. Surprisingly, the assemblage E and A isolates are more similar at the amino-acid level than the two human isolates are to each other. This strengthens our earlier data suggesting that humans are infected by two different species of Giardia.