Critical Care Medicine Department, NIH Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
Bacterial Pathogenesis and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Commun Biol. 2021 Mar 8;4(1):305. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-01799-7.
Pneumocystis jirovecii, the fungal agent of human Pneumocystis pneumonia, is closely related to macaque Pneumocystis. Little is known about other Pneumocystis species in distantly related mammals, none of which are capable of establishing infection in humans. The molecular basis of host specificity in Pneumocystis remains unknown as experiments are limited due to an inability to culture any species in vitro. To explore Pneumocystis evolutionary adaptations, we have sequenced the genomes of species infecting macaques, rabbits, dogs and rats and compared them to available genomes of species infecting humans, mice and rats. Complete whole genome sequence data enables analysis and robust phylogeny, identification of important genetic features of the host adaptation, and estimation of speciation timing relative to the rise of their mammalian hosts. Our data reveals insights into the evolution of P. jirovecii, the sole member of the genus able to infect humans.
肺孢子菌，人类肺孢子菌肺炎的真菌病原体，与猕猴肺孢子菌密切相关。关于亲缘关系较远的哺乳动物中的其他肺孢子菌物种知之甚少，这些物种都不能在人类中引起感染。由于无法在体外培养任何物种，因此肺孢子菌的宿主特异性的分子基础仍然未知。为了探索肺孢子菌的进化适应，我们已经对感染猕猴、兔子、狗和大鼠的物种进行了基因组测序，并将其与感染人类、小鼠和大鼠的现有物种基因组进行了比较。完整的全基因组序列数据可用于分析和稳健的系统发育、鉴定宿主适应的重要遗传特征，并估计相对于其哺乳动物宿主的出现时间的物种形成时间。我们的数据揭示了对人类唯一感染物种肺孢子菌 jirovecii 进化的深入了解。
