{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T06:08:13Z","timestamp":1788242893145,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,8]],"date-time":"2023-05-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1683504000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003968","name":"Iran National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["99014249"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["99014249"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003968","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To examine the genetic diversity of<jats:italic>Leishmania major<\/jats:italic>, 100 Giemsa-stained positive slides were collected from endemic foci of Iran (Northeast, Central, and Southwest provinces) over two consecutive years during 2019\u20132021. The<jats:italic>Leishmania<\/jats:italic>ITS-rDNA gene was amplified and<jats:italic>Leishmania<\/jats:italic>sp. was recognized by PCR-RFLP and sequencing. In addition, 178 registered ITS-rDNA sequences from other geographical regions of Iran were retrieved from GenBank, including different host species (human, sandfly and rodent). A total of 40 new haplotypes were discovered using the ITS-rDNA sequence analysis. IR29 (20.6%) and IR34 (61%) were the two most common haplotypes, represented by a star-like feature in the overall population. Analysis of the molecular variance test revealed low genetic diversity of<jats:italic>L<\/jats:italic>.<jats:italic>major<\/jats:italic>in human cases (Haplotype diversity; 0.341), rodent (Hd; 0.387) and sandfly (Hd; 0.390) sequences. The lowest genetic diversity of<jats:italic>L<\/jats:italic>.<jats:italic>major<\/jats:italic>was observed in Southwest\/Southeast Iran (Hd: 0.104\u20130.286). The statistically<jats:italic>F<\/jats:italic>st value indicated that<jats:italic>L<\/jats:italic>.<jats:italic>major<\/jats:italic>is not genetically differentiated between geographic regions of Iran, except for the Northeast-Southwest (<jats:italic>F<\/jats:italic>st: 0.29055) and Central-Southwest (<jats:italic>F<\/jats:italic>st: 0.30294) population pairs. The current study as the first investigation discloses new perspectives for further evaluation in the identification local transmission paradigms and initiating effective prevention strategies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0285520","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,8]],"date-time":"2023-05-08T18:32:26Z","timestamp":1683570746000},"page":"e0285520","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Low genetic heterogeneity of Leishmania major in different geographical regions of Iran"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3009-9537","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Adel","family":"Spotin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Soheila","family":"Rouhani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ali","family":"Haghighi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Parviz","family":"Parvizi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0285520.ref001","article-title":"The associations of Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica aspects by focusing their morphological and molecular features on clinical appearances in Khuzestan province","volume":"2014","author":"A Spotin","year":"2014","journal-title":"Iran. 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