Molecular typing of Trichomonas vaginalis isolates by actin gene sequence analysis and carriage of T. vaginalis viruses
Date
2017Author
Masha, Simon C.
Cools, Piet
Crucitti, Tania
Sanders, Eduard J.
Vaneechoutte, Mario
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background: The protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis is the most common non-viral, sexually transmitted
pathogen. Although T. vaginalis is highly prevalent among women in Kenya, there is lack of data regarding
genetic diversity of isolates currently in circulation in Kenya.
Methods: Typing was performed on 22 clinical isolates of T. vaginalis collected from women attending the antenatal
care clinic at Kilifi County Hospital, Kenya, in 2015. Genotyping followed a previously proposed restriction fragment
length polymorphism (RFLP) scheme, which involved in silico cleavage of the amplified actin gene by HindII, MseI and
RsaI restriction enzymes. Phylogenetic analysis of all the sequences was performed to confirm the results obtained by
RFLP-analysis and to assess the diversity within the RFLP genotypes. Additionally, we determined carriage of the four
different types of Trichomonas vaginalis viruses (TVVs) by polymerase chain reaction.
Results: In silico RFLP-analysis revealed five actin genotypes; 50.0% of the isolates were of actin genotype E, 27.3%
of actin genotype N, 13.6% of actin genotype G and 4.5% of actin genotypes I and P. Phylogenetic analysis was in
agreement with the RFLP-analysis, with the different actin genotypes clustering together. Prevalence of TVVs was
43.5% (95% confidence interval, CI: 23.2–65.5). TVV1 was the most prevalent, present in 39.1% of the strains and
90% of the T. vaginalis isolates which harbored TVVs had more than one type of TVV. None of the isolates of actin
genotype E harbored any TVV.
Conclusion: The presence of five actin genotypes in our study suggests notable diversity among T. vaginalis
isolates occurring among pregnant women in Kilifi, Kenya. Isolates of the most prevalent actin genotype E
lacked TVVs. We found no association between T. vaginalis genotype, carriage of TVVs and symptoms. Further
studies with higher number of strains should be conducted in order to corroborate these results.
Keywords: Trichomonas vaginalis, Trichomonas vaginalis viruses, actin gene, Typing, Kilifi, Kenya