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Leptospira inadai is classified as a species of the Leptospira intermediate group that has been poorly studied due to its apparent insignificance to human and animal health. Nevertheless, over the last two decades the species has been described in human cases in India and in carrier animals in Ecuador. Here, we present the first identification and genomic characterisation of L. inadai serogroup Lyme isolated from captured rodent in Brazil. Even though the M34/99 strain was not pathogenic for hamsters, it was able to establish renal colonisation. The M34/99 strain presented high similarity with L. inadai serogroup Lyme human reference indicating that animal strain could also infect humans, although it does not represent high risk of severe disease. An extrachromosomal sequence was also identified in M34/99 strain and presented high identity with previously described L. inadai phage LinZ_10, suggesting that phage-like extrachromosomal sequence may be another feature of this understudied species.

Leptospira interrogans serovar Canicola is one of the most important pathogenic serovars for the maintenance of urban leptospirosis. Even though it is considered highly adapted to dogs, serovar Canicola infection has already been described in other animals and even a few human cases. Here, we present the genomic characterisation of two Brazilian L. interrogans serovar Canicola strains isolated from slaughtered sows (L0-3 and L0-4) and their comparison with human strain Fiocruz LV133. It was observed that the porcine serovar Canicola strains present the genetic machinery to cause human infection and, therefore, represent a higher risk to public health. Both human and porcine serovar Canicola isolates also presented sequences with high identity to the Chinese serovar Canicola published plasmids pGui1 and pGui2. The plasmids identification in the Brazilian and Chinese serovar Canicola strains suggest that extra-chromosomal elements are one more feature of this serovar that was previously unnoticed.

The Leptospira interrogans serogroup Australis is traditionally described as pathogenic for swine although animals usually present low serologic response and mild clinical signs. The first isolation of a Leptospira interrogans serogroup Australis strain from swine, in Brazil, was recently described. Herein we present the genomic characterization of this strain (SU5) and further comparison with the Leptospira serovars reference genomes available in the GenBank database. The SU5 strain was characterized with sequence types previously described in a serogroup Australis isolated from human and presented a new ST98 that is thus far exclusively of the Brazilian porcine L. interrogans serogroup Australis. Even though the SU5 strain presented higher similarity with the American porcine serogroup Australis strain PigK151, as expected, it also presented sequences blocks in both chromosomes which are absent in the genomes of the studied Leptospira serovars. These regions are flanked by insertion sequences and transposases genes, suggesting the existence of inter- and intra-serogroup genomic variability due to mobile elements transferring. This genomic plasticity has already been demonstrated for pathogenic Leptospira species; nevertheless, there is still a limited understanding of the relationship between genome organization and content and the divergence of Leptospira serogroups and serovars that needs to be further elucidated., (© FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Leptospira kirschneri is one of the pathogenic species of the Leptospira genus. Human and animal infection from L. kirschneri gained further attention over the last few decades. Here we present the isolation and characterisation of Brazilian L. kirschneri serogroup Pomona serovar Mozdok strain M36/05 and the comparative genomic analysis with Brazilian human strain 61H. The M36/05 strain caused pulmonary hemorrhagic lesions in the hamster model, showing high virulence. The studied genomes presented high symmetrical identity and the in silico multilocus sequence typing analysis resulted in a new allelic profile (ST101) that so far has only been associated with the Brazilian L. kirschneri serogroup Pomona serovar Mozdok strains. Considering the environmental conditions and high genomic similarity observed between strains, we suggest the existence of a Brazilian L. kirschneri serogroup Pomona serovar Mozdok lineage that could represent a high public health risk; further studies are necessary to confirm the lineage significance and distribution.

Leptospira noguchii is a current zoonotic pathogen in Brazil. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of the Brazilian L. noguchii serogroup Panama strain U73, isolated from asymptomatic cattle urine., (Copyright © 2015 Moreno et al.)