Comparative genomics and full-length Tprk profiling of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum reinfection

摘要

The causative agent of syphilis, Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum, is capable of repeat infections in people, suggesting that the human immune response does not develop sufficiently broad or long-lasting immunity to cover treponemal diversity. Here, we examined the genomes from two blood-derived isolates of T. pallidum derived 6 years apart from a patient who had syphilis four times during the same period to understand the genetic basis of reinfection. We found a paucity of coding changes across the genome outside of the highly variable tprK gene. Using deep profiling of the full-length tprK gene, we found surprisingly that the two isolates did not share any full-length TprK sequences.