Complete genome identified of clinical isolate Prototheca

Introduction. Prototheca is an opportunistic pathogen that can infect both humans and animals, of which Prototheca wickerhamii (P. wickerhamii) being the most significant pathogenic green algae.Gap statement. The incidence of human diseases caused by Prototheca has been on the rise, yet there is a significant gap in genetic research pertaining to the pathophysiological aspects of these infections.Aim. The aim of this study is to present the whole genome data from the clinical isolate InPu-22_FZ strain and to understand its genomic characteristics through comparative genomic analysis and phylogenetic tree analysis. Functional annotation of protein-coding genes and analysis of their pathogenicity are also conducted.Methodology. We described the high-quality de novo genome assembly of the clinical isolate InPu-22_FZ strain, achieved by combining Nanopore ONT and Illumina NovaSeq sequencing technologies. Phylogenetic tree was constructed to study the evolutionary relationship between the InPu-22_FZ strain and other species. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis was used to assess the similarity between different species. Additionally, the size, distribution and composition of synteny blocks were also analysed to infer the evolutionary relationships of the genomes.Results. The size of the assembled nuclear genome was 18.47 Mb with 48 contigs. Key features of the genome include high overall GC content (63.31%), high number (5478) and proportion (62.24%) of protein-coding genes and more than 96.71% of genes annotated for gene function. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the InPu-22_FZ strain and other P. wickerhamii clustered into one clade with a bootstrap value of 99% and collinearity analysis revealed high levels of collinearity with ATCC 16529. The ANI analysis revealed only a relatively high similarity (89-93%) to available P. wickerhamii genomes, suggesting the overall genomic novelty of InPu-22_FZ strain. Interestingly, the analysis of the pathogen-host interaction database unveiled and demonstrated reduced virulence of this strain, albeit it was isolated from a chronic upper-limb cutaneous infection.Conclusion. The study provides an in-depth insight into the genomic structure and biological function of the InPu-22_FZ strain, revealing the genetic basis of its pathogenicity and virulence.