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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2004, p. 1505-1510, Vol. 42, No. 4
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.4.1505-1510.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Genotyping and Coalescent Phylogenetic Analysis of Pneumocystis jiroveci from South Africa
Frans J. L. Robberts,1* Lynne D. Liebowitz,1 and Lynda J. Chalkley2
Department of Medical Microbiology, School for Basic and Applied Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg,1
Medical Research Council South Africa, Parow, South Africa2
Received 14 October 2003/
Returned for modification 1 December 2003/
Accepted 16 December 2003

ABSTRACT
Sequence analysis of
Pneumocystis jiroveci internal transcribed
spacer (ITS) regions has become an important epidemiological
tool. The objectives of the present study were to investigate
sequence variations in the ITS1-5.8S ribosomal DNA (rDNA)-ITS2
regions; determine the
P. jiroveci genotypes present in Cape
Town, South Africa; and resolve the lineage evolution of the
types by use of the coalescent theory. ITS regions were amplified
from samples collected from 19 patients. PCR products were cloned,
and four to five clones were sequenced from each specimen. Statistical
parsimony was applied for coalescence-based network genotype
analysis. The most prevalent type was Eg (14 of 19 patients,
33 of 83 clones), followed by Gg (4 of 19 patients, 7 of 83
clones), Eu (3 of 19 patients, 5 of 83 clones), and Gh (2 of
19 patients, 2 of 83 clones). Four new combinations (Eo, Je,
Ge, and No), 11 new ITS1 sequences, and 13 new ITS2 sequences
were identified. A new ITS2 type was detected in three patients
and was designated type u. Coinfection appeared to be common,
with 15 of 19 patients harboring more than one type and with
up to six types per specimen. The resultant parsimony network
identified Eg as the most probable ancestral haplotype and supported
the occurrence of recombinational events within the population
studied. Although the 5.8S rDNA region revealed only 13 clones
containing one to two nucleotide polymorphisms, it may assist
in defining types. Coalescent theory proposed that Eg is an
ancestral type from which microevolutionary subtypes radiate.

INTRODUCTION
Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is a major contributor to morbidity
and mortality in immunocompromised individuals (
16,
18). Many
molecular epidemiological techniques are not applicable for
the typing of
Pneumocystis, as it cannot readily be propagated
in vitro. Regions that have been investigated for use in the
design of a typing method include the mitochondrial large-subunit
rRNA, mitochondrial small-subunit rRNA, the
arom locus, and
internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions (
21). The sequence
diversity of the
Pneumocystis jiroveci ITS1 and ITS2 regions
prompted these regions to be the basis on which typing of
P. jiroveci could be conducted (
10). Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of
P. jiroveci is present as a single copy in the cell and is transcribed
as a single transcript, with 18S rRNA, 5.8S rRNA, and 26S rRNA
occurring in tandem (
4). The rRNA genes are separated by the
ITS1 region between 18S rRNA and 5.8S rRNA and the ITS2 region
between 5.8S rRNA and 26S rRNA (
3,
6). Globally, the most frequently
encountered genotypes are Eg and Ne (
9,
20,
21). Latouche et
al. (
8) proposed that as a specific type was seen to persist
during the same episode of PCP, genotype switching did not occur.
However, in a study conducted with 19 patients during the same
episode of PCP, genotype changes were observed in 53% of the
patients (
5) and coinfection with more than one genotype has
been reported in a high proportion of PCP episodes (
10,
12,
14,
20,
21,
22). The present understanding is that
P. jiroveci infection is not clonal and that repeated de novo acquisition
of ITS types is likely to occur (
8,
20).
Conventional molecular phylogenetic analysis of tree building is based on homologous characters between species that are assumed to be reproductively isolated, with ascendance based on linear, dichotomous speciation events (17). These assumptions do not hold when intraspecific nucleotide evolution is analyzed at the population level. The focus is shifted to a recent evolutionary timescale, which implies that ancestral states may still exist, multiple apomorphies may be present, sexual reproduction may take place, and recombination may be involved (2, 17). Coalescent theory addresses these issues, as it models the genealogical processes of selectively neutral genes from a population by looking backward in time, whereby all lineages will eventually coalesce into a single lineage termed the most recent common ancestor of the sample (17).
The aim of the present study was to investigate which P. jiroveci ITS1-5.8S rDNA-ITS2 genotypes are present in Cape Town, South Africa, and determine the lineage evolution of the types by use of the coalescence theory.
(This work was presented in part at the 8th International Workshop on Opportunistic Protists 2003.)

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Clinical specimens (
n = 20) were obtained from 19 patients with
PCP attending the Tygerberg Hospital. Included were three specimens
from twin babies, both of whom were human immunodeficiency virus
positive. They presented with PCP simultaneously and were admitted
together to the pediatric intensive care unit. Two specimens
were analyzed from twin 1: a tracheal aspirate and a lung biopsy
specimen (which was obtained 6 days after retrieval of the tracheal
aspirate). A lung biopsy specimen was obtained from the second
twin concurrently with the lung biopsy specimen from twin 1.
DNA extraction and amplification.
Mucoid specimens of 1 to 5 ml were treated with an equal volume of 0.1 M 1,4-dithiothreitol (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Mannheim, Germany), vortexed, and incubated at 37°C for 30 min until they were liquefied. The suspension was centrifuged at 3,000 x g for 15 min, and the pellet was stored in phosphate-buffered saline (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.) at 80°C. DNA extractions were performed with a High Pure Template Preparation kit (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) according to the instructions of the manufacturer. Nested PCR of the ITS region (550 bp) was conducted by using the PCR conditions and primers described previously (10), but with Taq DNA polymerase in the PCR buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 9], 50 mM KCl, 0.1% Triton X-100 [Promega Corporation, Madison, Wis.]). Seven specimens were evaluated with a proofreading DNA polymerase, Pwo (Roche Molecular Biochemicals), with 3' to 5' exonuclease activity. Amplification was performed according to the recommendations of the manufacturer by using an Applied Biosystems GeneAmp PCR System 9700 (PE Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.). The PCR products were separated by electrophoresis in 1.4% UltraPure (GibcoBRL) agarose gel for 45 min at 80 V with Tris-acetate EDTA buffer. Ethidium bromide-stained DNA products were visualized under UV light and sized by using a 100-bp DNA molecular size marker (XIV; Roche Molecular Biochemicals).
Cloning and sequencing.
The second-round PCR products were purified with the Wizard SV Gel and PCR Clean-Up system (Promega Corporation) and cloned into plasmid pGEM-T (Promega Corporation) according to the instructions of the manufacturer. Insert (806 bp) amplification was performed with vector-specific M13 primers. ExoSap-IT (U.S. Biochemical Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio)-digested PCR products were sequenced with the ABI Prism BigDye Terminator Ready Reaction (version 3.1) Cycle Sequencing kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.) according to the instructions of the manufacturer. Sequencing capillary electrophoresis was performed on an ABI Prism 3100 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems) by the Central Analytical Facility, University of Stellenbosch. The sequences obtained were compared to those of ITS regions previously published by Lee et al. (9) (GenBank accession numbers AF013806 to AF013834), Nimri et al. (14) (GenBank accession numbers AF374238 to AF374265), Nevez et al. (13) (GenBank accession number AF498265), and Totet et al. (19) (GenBank accession numbers AY135711 to AY135712). Type nomenclature was assigned as described by Lee et al. (9).
Network construction.
ITS1 and ITS2 sequences were concatenated and aligned by use of the Clustal W program, which is incorporated in the BioEdit software package (version 5.06; Tom Hall, Department of Microbiology, North Carolina State University [http://www.mbio.ncsu.edu/BioEdit/page2.html]), and were subsequently optimized by visual inspection. Statistical parsimony was applied by using the computer program TCS (version 1.13; M. Clement, J. Derington, and D. Posada, Brigham Young University [http://inbio.byu.edu/Faculty/kac/crandall_lab/]) (1). Gaps were treated as missing characters, but subsequent to coalescence network analysis, they were included to reveal subdivisions within the haplotypes obtained. Unresolved loops were optimized by applying coalescence theory to obtain the most parsimonious network (17).
Nucleotide sequence accession numbers.
The nucleotide sequences of the new ITS1, ITS2, and 5.8S rDNA alleles have been deposited in GenBank under accession numbers AY328043 to AY328053, AY328054 to AY328066, and AY328067 to AY328078 and AY330724, respectively.

RESULTS
ITS1 and ITS2 genotypes.
A total of 83 clones were sequenced from the 20 clinical specimens
(19 patients), and ITS types were assigned. Eleven new ITS1
sequences (Fig.
1, Roman numerals) and 13 new ITS2 sequences
(Fig.
2, Arabic numerals) were found. A new ITS2 type was identified
in three patients and was designated type u (Table
1; Fig.
2).
Four new combinations of previously reported ITS1 and ITS2 sequences
were demonstrated: Eo, Je, Ge, and No. A single ITS type was
detected in three specimens, five specimens contained two types,
eight specimens contained three types, two specimens contained
four types, one specimen contained five types, and one specimen
contained six types. On sequencing 14 clones from a tracheal
aspirate and a biopsy specimen, 9 types were demonstrated from
one patient (Table
1, specimens 2 and 3, respectively). The
most frequent type detected in the sampled population was Eg
(14 of 19 patients, 33 of 83 clones), followed by Gg (4 of 19
patients, 7 of 83 clones), Eu (3 of 19 patients, 5 of 83 clones),
and Gh (2 of 19 patients, 2 of 83 clones) (Table
1).
PCR with DNA polymerase
Pwo demonstrated a reduced specificity
compared to that obtained with
Taq DNA polymerase reactions.
Although
Pwo produced amplicons of the expected size, upon cloning
and sequencing of 35 clones, most PCR products were shown to
be human DNA and/or the homologous ITS regions of
Candida albicans. However, successful amplification of four new sequences and
the new type (Eu, Xg, E12, and XI11 [Table
1 and Fig.
1 and
2]) was confirmed with
Pwo.
The 95% parsimony distance matrix and the resultant statistical parsimony network are shown in Table 2 and Fig. 3, respectively. Coalescence suggests that the major ancestral haplotype is Eg, which radiates microevolutionarily minor haplotypes. Unresolved loops are indicated between types Eo, Ge, Ne, and No, as well as between types Eo, No, and Ng and types Ng, Ig, and IXE. It appears that several haplotypes can be considered missing from the sampling performed. Of major interest were the specimens received from baby twins presenting with PCP at the same time (Table 1). The tracheal aspirate of twin 1 revealed ITS types Je, Ne, Eg, Eo, Ig, and IIg; and the biopsy specimen of twin 1 revealed types Eg, Ne, IIIg, and IV1. In total, twin 1 presented with nine types obtained from 14 clones, with only type (type Eg) common to both specimens. Three types (types Eg, Ge, and No) were identified from six clones from the biopsy specimen from twin 2. The only type common to both twins was Eg (Fig. 4).
5.8S rRNA genotypes.
Thirteen different 5.8S rDNA sequences were detected among the
83 clones analyzed (Fig.
5). Eighty-two clones contained a CG
at positions 115 and 116. Of the 20 clinical specimens examined,
13 contained a single 5.8S rDNA type, 3 contained two types,
3 contained three types, and 1 contained four different types.
Among the specimens from the twins, the tracheal aspirate from
twin 1 possessed four different 5.8S rRNA types and the biopsy
specimen possessed two types, with only one type common to both
the biopsy specimen and the tracheal aspirate. Twin 2 harbored
two 5.8S rDNA types. One type, associated with ITS types Eg
and Ge, was also present in both the tracheal aspirate and the
biopsy specimen from twin 1; but the second type exhibited a
genotype that was demonstrated only in twin 2 (linked to ITS
type No) (Fig.
4). No linkage could be demonstrated between
the ITS and 5.8S rDNA types obtained.

DISCUSSION
The most prevalent ITS1 and ITS2 types demonstrated were Eg
(14 of 19 patients), as in studies from other continents (
19,
20), and Gg (4 of 19 patients), Eu (3 of 19 patients), and Gh
(2 of 19 patients). The ITS type combinations Eo, Je, Ge, and
No were unique to the South African samples; and in addition,
12 new ITS1 sequences and 13 new ITS2 sequences were demonstrated.
A new ITS2 type that was detected in three different temporally
separated patients was designated type u (GenBank accession
number
AY328054). Coinfection in the patient population appeared
to be common, with 15 of 19 patients (79%) harboring more than
one genotype. Two specimens from one patient, taken only 6 days
apart, revealed the presence of nine different genotypes. In
a study conducted by Lee et al. (
9), it was suggested that samples
containing six or more genotypes had resulted from cross-contamination
during processing. However, in the present study cross-amplicon
contamination could be excluded, as types Je, Ne, Ig, Eo, and
IIg found in one specimen were not detected in any other specimens
analyzed. Other studies that have sequenced up to five clones
from each specimen have also reported the presence of three
to five types from a single specimen (
5,
10,
13,
14).
As numerous new ITS1 and ITS2 sequences were found, 7 of 20 samples were reamplified by using the proofreading DNA polymerase Pwo. Pwo provided valuable confirmation of the sequences of types Eu, Xg, E12, and XI11. PCR with Pwo and the specified cycling conditions, however, proved to be unsuitable for the amplification of ITS regions of P. jiroveci from clinical specimens.
ITS analysis of Pneumocystis macacae by classical phylogenetic approaches, as performed by Hsueh et al. (7), does not appear to provide adequate intraspecies resolution. If Pneumocystis ITS regions undergo recombination or if there is a high rate of homoplasy, classic analysis would, in effect, provide no resolution due to a saturation effect. On application of coalescence-based statistical parsimony analysis to ITS regions from P. jiroveci, the parsimony network clearly shows linkage loops between haplotypes, indicative of homoplasies or recombination. Morphological investigations with Pneumocystis conducted in 1984 (11) certainly support recombination, in that synaptonemal complexes, indicative of meiosis in the early precyst stage, were reported.
On the basis of sequence information and haplotype frequency data, genotype Eg was identified as an outgroup and the most probable major ancestral haplotype within the population group. In support of the coalescence approach adopted, genotyping conducted worldwide has shown that the most frequently encountered ITS type is Eg (8, 9, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21). As certain genotypes, most notably type Eg, are overrepresented, dissemination of specific ITS types appears to be the major mode of propagation.
Linkage of 5.8S rDNA types with ITS types was not evident, indicating that different parental strains may harbor very similar ITS types or that recombination may occur. Although the relevance of 5.8S rDNA sequence polymorphisms as an adjunct to analysis of ITS regions necessitates further investigations, they may assist in distinguishing strain types within populations with similar ITS genotypes. When the number of different ITS1 and ITS2 genotype combinations reported here is considered, recombinational events could well contribute to the degree of heterogeneity observed worldwide.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by a South African Medical Research
Council grant and a bursary awarded to F. J. L. Robberts.
We thank J. Goodway for computer assistance and diagram formatting.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medical Microbiology, School for Basic and Applied Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, P.O. Box 19063, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa. Phone: 27 021 938 5228. Fax: 27 021 938 4005. E-mail:
lourensr{at}sun.ac.za.


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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2004, p. 1505-1510, Vol. 42, No. 4
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.4.1505-1510.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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