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Babesia divergens and Babesia microti species-specific genes that may drive pathogenesis

Tijani, Muyideen Kolapo LU ; Wu, Bingyan LU ; Danielsson, Lena LU ; Dirks, Ron P. ; Jansen, Hans J. ; Sprong, Hein ; Strube, Christina and Persson, Kristina E.M. LU orcid (2026) In Infection, Genetics and Evolution 139.
Abstract

Human babesiosis is an emerging disease as more cases are being reported worldwide. Most cases in Europe are caused by Babesia divergens, whereas most cases in North America are due to Babesia microti. While B. microti is also found throughout Europe, it appears to be less pathogenic. We generated high-quality nuclear and organellar genome assemblies of two B. divergens and two B. microti isolates from Germany by long-read sequencing and compared them with each other and with the reference RI B. microti from the US. Variants of VESA1 (variant erythrocyte surface antigen 1) and secreted antigen 1/3 dominated the genes of the B. divergens isolates. The B. microti isolates and RI B. microti lacked VESA1. However, the B. microti isolates... (More)

Human babesiosis is an emerging disease as more cases are being reported worldwide. Most cases in Europe are caused by Babesia divergens, whereas most cases in North America are due to Babesia microti. While B. microti is also found throughout Europe, it appears to be less pathogenic. We generated high-quality nuclear and organellar genome assemblies of two B. divergens and two B. microti isolates from Germany by long-read sequencing and compared them with each other and with the reference RI B. microti from the US. Variants of VESA1 (variant erythrocyte surface antigen 1) and secreted antigen 1/3 dominated the genes of the B. divergens isolates. The B. microti isolates and RI B. microti lacked VESA1. However, the B. microti isolates were different by their lack of 37 other proteins found in RI B. microti. These RI-specific proteins were intracellular, secreted, and membrane-bound. The lack of one or more of these genes by the new B. microti isolates may be the reason for why US strains are more pathogenic than B. microti from Europe. The ability of B. divergens to evade the immune system using VESA1, perhaps in combination with some secreted antigens, may be responsible for its higher pathogenicity compared with the European B. microti strains.This study has improved our understanding of the pathogenesis of babesiosis, and the new genomic data provided here has increased the repertoire of available genomic information about Babesia, especially since our new B. microti genomes are the first from Europe.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Babesia divergens, Babesia microti, Genomics, Multigene families, Pathogenesis, Virulence
in
Infection, Genetics and Evolution
volume
139
article number
105903
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105034013243
  • pmid:41702479
ISSN
1567-1348
DOI
10.1016/j.meegid.2026.105903
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6760df03-c1aa-4a5e-9580-ec7a3571462c
date added to LUP
2026-05-21 15:51:49
date last changed
2026-05-21 15:52:31
@article{6760df03-c1aa-4a5e-9580-ec7a3571462c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Human babesiosis is an emerging disease as more cases are being reported worldwide. Most cases in Europe are caused by Babesia divergens, whereas most cases in North America are due to Babesia microti. While B. microti is also found throughout Europe, it appears to be less pathogenic. We generated high-quality nuclear and organellar genome assemblies of two B. divergens and two B. microti isolates from Germany by long-read sequencing and compared them with each other and with the reference RI B. microti from the US. Variants of VESA1 (variant erythrocyte surface antigen 1) and secreted antigen 1/3 dominated the genes of the B. divergens isolates. The B. microti isolates and RI B. microti lacked VESA1. However, the B. microti isolates were different by their lack of 37 other proteins found in RI B. microti. These RI-specific proteins were intracellular, secreted, and membrane-bound. The lack of one or more of these genes by the new B. microti isolates may be the reason for why US strains are more pathogenic than B. microti from Europe. The ability of B. divergens to evade the immune system using VESA1, perhaps in combination with some secreted antigens, may be responsible for its higher pathogenicity compared with the European B. microti strains.This study has improved our understanding of the pathogenesis of babesiosis, and the new genomic data provided here has increased the repertoire of available genomic information about Babesia, especially since our new B. microti genomes are the first from Europe.</p>}},
  author       = {{Tijani, Muyideen Kolapo and Wu, Bingyan and Danielsson, Lena and Dirks, Ron P. and Jansen, Hans J. and Sprong, Hein and Strube, Christina and Persson, Kristina E.M.}},
  issn         = {{1567-1348}},
  keywords     = {{Babesia divergens; Babesia microti; Genomics; Multigene families; Pathogenesis; Virulence}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Infection, Genetics and Evolution}},
  title        = {{Babesia divergens and Babesia microti species-specific genes that may drive pathogenesis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2026.105903}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.meegid.2026.105903}},
  volume       = {{139}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}