Sequence Types and Allelic Variations in Isolates from Clinical and Different Environmental Sources in Italy.

The genus comprises free-living amoebae distributed in a wide variety of environments. These amoebae are clinically significant, causing opportunistic infections in humans and other animals. Despite this, limited data on sequence types and alleles are available in Italy. In the present study, we analyzed all sequences deposited from Italy with new positive clinical samples from symptomatic AK cases, to provide an overview of the genetic variants' spatial patterns from different sources within the Italian context. A total of 137 sequences were obtained. Six sequence types were identified: T2/6, T3, T4, T11, T13, and T15. Only T4 and T15 were found in both sources. The T4 sequence type was found to be the most prevalent in all regions, accounting for 73% (100/137) of the Italian samples analyzed. The T4 sequence type demonstrated significant allelic diversity, with 30 distinct alleles from clinical and/or environmental samples. These outcomes enabled a better understanding of the distribution of isolates throughout Italy, reaffirming its well-recognized ubiquity. isolates analysis from keratitis, together with the environmental strains monitoring, might provide important information on different genotypes spreading. This might be useful to define the transmission pathways of human keratitis across different epidemiological scales.