Whole Mitogenome Sequencing Uncovers a Relation Between Mitochondrial Heteroplasmy and Leprosy Severity

Background: In recent years, a mitochondria/immune system interaction has been proposed, so that variants of mitochondrial genome and levels of heteroplasmy might deregulate important metabolic processes in fighting infections, such as leprosy. We sequenced the whole mitochondrial genome to investigate variants and heteroplasmy levels, considering patients with different clinical forms of leprosy and household contacts. Results We found 116 variants in at least two of the subtypes of the case group (Borderline Tuberculoid, Borderline Lepromatous, Lepromatous), suggesting a possible clinical significance to these variants. Notably, 15 variants were exclusively found in these three clinical forms, of which five variants stands out for being missense (m.3791T > C in MT-ND1 , m.5317C > A in MT-ND2 , m.8545G > A in MT-ATP8 , m.9044T > C in MT-ATP6 and m.15837T > C in MT-CYB) . In addition, we found 26 variants shared only by leprosy poles, of which two are characterized as missense (m.4248T > C in MT-ND1 and m.8027G > A in MT-CO2 ). Conclusion We found a significant number of variants and heteroplasmy levels in the leprosy patients from our cohort, suggesting for the first time that the mitogenome might be involved with the leprosy process, distinction of clinical forms and severity. Thus, future studies are needed to help understand the genetic consequences of this variants.