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. 2020 Mar 25;9:e51243. doi: 10.7554/eLife.51243

Table 2. Summary of genetic variation across 151 isolates of the L. donovani complex for previously described loci involved in resistance or treatment failure of antimonial drugs and Miltefosine.

locus/complex gene id gene name function prediction involved in resistance (R)/treatment failure (TF) to drug: reference evidence from reference gene copy number (gene CN)
L. infantum, JPCM5, v41 L. infantum, JPCM5, v38 L. donovani ortholog, BPK282A1, v41
H-locus LINF_230007700 LinJ.23.0280 LdBPK_230280 terbinafine resistance gene (HTBF), (YIP1) Antimonials (R) Callahan and Beverley, 1991;
Dias et al., 2007
The Leishmania H region is frequently amplified in drug-resistant lines and is associated with metal resistance (genes YIP1, MRPA, PTR1). Genes have an increased CN in 30% (CN +1 to +44), and reduced CN in 9% (CN −1).
37% of all samples have an insertion including at least three genes (always YIP1, MRPA and argininosuccinate synthase). These amplifications are in groups Ldon1 (42/45), Ldon3 (13/19) and Ldon5 (1/8). The insertion boundaries in isolates from groups Ldon1 and Ldon3 are shared (Figure 9—figure supplement 1A).
LINF_230007800 LinJ.23.0290 LdBPK_230290 P-glycoprotein A (MRPA); pentamidine resistance protein 1 ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, ABC-thiol transporter Antimonials (R) Callahan and Beverley, 1991;
Dias et al., 2007; Leprohon et al., 2009
Increased expression of MRPA is often due to the amplification of its gene in antimony-resistant strains.
LINF_230007900 LinJ.23.0300 LdBPK_230300 argininosuccinate synthase - putative Antimonials Grondin et al., 1993;
Leprohon et al., 2009
LINF_230008000 LinJ.23.0310 LdBPK_230310 Pteridine reductase 1 (PTR1) Antimonials (R) Callahan and Beverley, 1991;
Dias et al., 2007
see above, evidence only for H-locus in general
Antifolate (R) Vickers and Beverley, 2011 Leishmania salvage folate from their hosts. Thereby folates are reduced by a DHFR (dihydrofolate reductase)-TS (thymidylate synthase) and PTR1. PTR1 can act as a metabolic bypass of DHFR inhibition, reducing the effectiveness of existing antifolate drugs.
Mitogen-activated protein kinase, MAPK1 LINF_360076200 LinJ.36.6760 LdBPK_366760 LMPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase protein phosphorylation Antimonials (R) Singh et al., 2010; Ashutosh et al., 2012 Conflicting evidence between up- and down-regulation of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase one between different studies. 45% of all isolates showed an increased CN, with all isolates of Ldon1 andLdon3 being affected and smaller fractions in other L. donovani groups (Figure 9—figure supplement 2A).
Aqua-glyceroporin, AQP1 LINF_310005100 LinJ.31.0030 LdBPK_310030 Aquaglyceroporin 1, AQP1 drug transmembrane transport Antimonials (R) Gourbal et al., 2004;
Uzcategui et al., 2008;
Monte-Neto et al., 2015;
Andrade et al., 2016;
Imamura et al., 2016
A frequently resistant L. donovani population has a two base-pair insertion in AQP1 preventing antimonial transport.
Increased resistance with decrease in gene CN or expression, while increase leads to higher drug sensitivity.
Gene CN deletions and insertions of small effect sizes (CN −2 to −1 and +1 to +3) are present in 6% and 35% of isolates but never leading to loss of the locus.
Miltefosine transporter and associated genes LINF_130020800 LinJ.13.1590 LdBPK_131590 Miltefosine transporter, LdMT phospholipid transport Miltefosine (R) Pérez-Victoria et al., 2006;
Shaw et al., 2016
Gene deletion or different changes in two different strains evolved in promastigote culture for Miltefosine resistance. strain Sb-S: locus deletion and A691P; strain Sb-R: E197D 15 isolates: +1 gene CNV (CUK, Ldon1, Ldon2, Ldon3, Ldon5)
LINF_130020900 LinJ.13.1600 LdBPK_131600 hypothetical protein unknown function Miltefosine (R) Shaw et al., 2016 Deleted along with the Miltefosine transporter gene in a single line evolved for Miltefosine resistance in promastigote culture. three isolates: +1 gene CNV (Ldon1, Linf1)
LINF_320015500 LinJ.32.1040 LdBPK_321040 Ros3, LdRos3 Vps23 core domain containing protein - putative Miltefosine (R) Pérez-Victoria et al., 2006 Putative subunit of LdMT; LdMT and LdRos3 seem to form part of the same translocation machinery that determines flippase activity and Miltefosine sensitivity in Leishmania. one isolate: +1 gene CNV (Ldon1)
Miltefosine sensitivity locus, MSL LINF_310031200 LinJ.31.2370 LdBPK_312380 3'-nucleotidase/nuclease - putative Miltefosine (TF) Carnielli et al., 2018 MSL: a deletion of this locus was associated with Miltefosine treatment failure in Brazil. While the frequency of the MSL was still relatively high in the North-East it was almost absent in the South-East of Brazil, and it was absent in L.infantum/L.donovani in the Old World. Genes have a reduced CN in 55% (CN −1 to −8) and increased in 4% (CN +1).
Four isolates, show a complete loss of the MSL at identical boundaries: WC, Cha001, HN167 and HN336 (2/4 isolates from Brazil, 2/2 isolates from Honduras). Two isolates show a reduction of all four genes at this locus but with various deletion boundaries: IMT373cl1 (Portugal), CH35 (Cyprus) (Figure 9B).
LINF_310031300 LinJ.31.2380 LdBPK_312380 3'-nucleotidase/nuclease - putative Miltefosine (TF) Carnielli et al., 2018
LINF_310031400 LinJ.31.2390 LdBPK_312390 helicase-like protein Miltefosine (TF) Carnielli et al., 2018
LINF_310031500 LinJ.31.2400 LdBPK_312320, LdBPK_312400 3–2-trans-enoyl-CoA isomerase - mitochondrial precursor - putative Miltefosine (TF) Carnielli et al., 2018