Abstract:
Leptospirosis is caused by spirochetes and is considered a remerging infectious disease worldwide.
Leptospira isolation and whole-genome sequencing are two key concepts that enable us to understand the
poorly defined pathophysiology of this disease. L. interrogans, L.borgpetersenii, and L.kirchneri were
isolated from Sri Lanka two to three decades back. Even though Agampodi et al. has reported that L.weilii
was causing disease, it was not isolated from Sri Lanka. This study was planned to identify L.weilii as an
etiological agent causing human leptospirosis. Culture isolation of Leptospira from febrile patients was
done using EMJH media and log phase from the growing culture was used for DNA extraction. In 25
isolated Leptospira, whole genomic sequencing was done to define the species. Extracted DNA was used
for Pac-Bio sequencing. Data generated from sequencing were assembled using Canu 2.1. The average
guanine-cytosine (GC) content of Leptospira lies between 34 and 41%: the highest was observed in L.weilii.
Subsystem analysis by RAST annotation revealed that proteins linked to amino acids and derivatives,
protein metabolism, cofactors, vitamins, prosthetic groups, pigments, carbohydrates, motility and
chemotaxis were found in all species in roughly equal numbers. There was a slight variation in genome
features even within the same species. In-depth comparative genomic analysis is required for further
understanding
