Leishmania naiffi CL223 genome assembled from short read data provided by the Sanger Institute. Leishmania naiffi CL223 genome sequencing

Leishmania DNA was sampled from two dogs with the cutaneous form of canine leishmaniasis in Colombia in 1985/86 and whole genome sequenced. We assembled the genomes to chromosome level with short-read data, using both de-novo assembly and reference based alignment, and annotated them, finding over 8,000 genes on each genome. A control assembly created from short-reads, using the same pipeline, was also used to validate results. The genomes were identified as L. guyanensis and L. naiffi, using a phylogenomics approach. These are both members of the Viannia subgenus of Leishmania which is only found in the Americas, mainly South America. L. naiffi had not previously been reported to cause disease in dogs or humans in Colombia, making this the first report of this species in Colombia.