Mitochondrial Genome Sequence of the Scabies Mite Provides Insight into the Genetic Diversity of Individual Scabies Infections

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2016 Feb 12;10(2):e0004384. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004384. eCollection 2016 Feb.

Abstract

The scabies mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, is an obligate parasite of the skin that infects humans and other animal species, causing scabies, a contagious disease characterized by extreme itching. Scabies infections are a major health problem, particularly in remote Indigenous communities in Australia, where co-infection of epidermal scabies lesions by Group A Streptococci or Staphylococcus aureus is thought to be responsible for the high rate of rheumatic heart disease and chronic kidney disease. We collected and separately sequenced mite DNA from several pools of thousands of whole mites from a porcine model of scabies (S. scabiei var. suis) and two human patients (S. scabiei var. hominis) living in different regions of northern Australia. Our sequencing samples the mite and its metagenome, including the mite gut flora and the wound micro-environment. Here, we describe the mitochondrial genome of the scabies mite. We developed a new de novo assembly pipeline based on a bait-and-reassemble strategy, which produced a 14 kilobase mitochondrial genome sequence assembly. We also annotated 35 genes and have compared these to other Acari mites. We identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and used these to infer the presence of six haplogroups in our samples, Remarkably, these fall into two closely-related clades with one clade including both human and pig varieties. This supports earlier findings that only limited genetic differences may separate some human and animal varieties, and raises the possibility of cross-host infections. Finally, we used these mitochondrial haplotypes to show that the genetic diversity of individual infections is typically small with 1-3 distinct haplotypes per infestation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Australia
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / chemistry
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics*
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Genome, Mitochondrial*
  • Haplotypes
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Annotation
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Sarcoptes scabiei / classification
  • Sarcoptes scabiei / genetics*
  • Scabies / parasitology
  • Scabies / veterinary
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA*
  • Swine
  • Swine Diseases / parasitology

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial

Associated data

  • GENBANK/LN874268
  • GENBANK/LN874269
  • GENBANK/LN874270

Grants and funding

This research was supported by The Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust, The Lettisier Foundation and Evans Family Foundation, and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Program Grants (1054618 and 496600). ATP was supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (1003856). KF and MB were supported by Australian Research Council Future Fellowships. The research benefitted by support from the Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support and Australian Government NHMRC Independent Research Institute Infrastructure Support. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.