PhD student of the Postgraduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology at the Federal University of Pará (PPGBM/UFPA). Master in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the same program. I work in the areas of bioinformatics, human genetics with an emphasis on the mitochondrial genome and its relationships in the study of complex diseases, such as Parkinson's, leprosy, orofacial clefts and cancer.
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Infectious Diseases, Molecular Biology
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Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Mitochondrial ancestry from complete mitogenomes highlights a lack of characterization of indigenous haplogroups in Brazilian Amazon population Felipe Gouvea de Souza, Gustavo Barra Matos, Camille Sena Santos, Tatiane Piedade Souza, Angélica Rita Gobbo, Patrícia Fagundes da Costa, Claudio Guedes Salgado, Gracivane Lopes Eufraseo, André Vitor de Souza Fernandes, Bruno Lopes Santos-Lobato, Sidney Santos, Giovanna C. Cavalcante, André M. Ribeiro dos Santos, Gilderlanio S. de Araújo, Ândrea Ribeiro- dos-Santos Communications Biology, 2025 Mitochondrial genome is an essential resource to investigate the dispersion and diversification of human populations. However, the lack of genomic data from non-European ancestry hinders demographic, anthropologic and genetic studies. Indigenous people from the Brazilian Amazon are especially underrepresented among large genetic datasets, despite their significative contribution to the Brazilian genetic pool. We investigated 157 mitochondrial genomes from the Brazilian Amazon using bioinformatics tools for ancestry inference and phylogenetics. Results were compared with 2578 global mitogenomes to assess haplogroup frequencies and genetic distances. Thirteen macrohaplogroups were identified from investigated samples, including Indigenous, European and African ancestries. Despite being prominent in our sample, Indigenous haplogroup assignment confidence by prediction tools was lower and many samples lacked key-defining variants, suggesting misassignment due to low representation in reference datasets. We also identified potential new groups sharing specific variants. Thus, underrepresentation of Indigenous haplogroups contributes to phylogenetic inconsistencies and needs future investigations.
River Stage Variability and Extremes in the Itacaiúnas Basin in the Eastern Amazon: Machine Learning-Based Modeling Luiz Rodolfo Reis Costa, Douglas Batista da Silva Ferreira, Renato Cruz Senna, Adriano Marlisom Leão de Sousa, Alexandre Melo Casseb do Carmo, João de Athaydes Silva, Felipe Gouvea de Souza, Everaldo Barreiros de Souza Hydrology, 2025 This study fosters tropical hydroclimatology research by implementing a computational modeling framework based on artificial neural networks and machine learning techniques. We evaluated two models, Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), in their ability to simulate 20-year monthly time series (2001–2021) of minimum and maximum river stage in the Itacaiúnas River Basin (BHRI), located in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. The models were configured using explanatory variables spanning meteorological, climatological, and environmental dimensions, ensuring representation of key local and regional hydrological drivers. Both models exhibited robust performance in capturing fluviometric variability, with a comprehensive multimetric statistical evaluation indicating MLP’s superior accuracy over SVM. Notably, the MLP model reproduced the maximum river level during a sequence of extreme hydrological events linked to natural disasters (floods) across BHRI municipalities. These findings underscore the computational model’s potential for refining hydrometeorological products, thus supporting water resource management and decision-making processes in the Amazon region.
Mitochondrial variants of complex I genes associated with leprosy clinical subtypes Felipe Gouvea de Souza, Caio S. Silva, Gilderlanio S. de Araújo, Mayara N. Santana-da-Silva, Angélica Rita Gobbo, Moisés Batista da Silva, Pablo Pinto, Patrícia Fagundes da Costa, Claudio Guedes Salgado, Ândrea Ribeiro-dos-Santos, Giovanna C. Cavalcante Scientific Reports, 2024 Leprosy is a chronic bacterial infection mainly caused by Mycobacterium leprae that primarily affects skin and peripheral nerves. Due to its ability to absorb carbon from the host cell, the bacillus became dependent on energy production, mainly through oxidative phosphorylation. In fact, variations in genes of Complex I of oxidative phosphorylation encoded by mtDNA have been associated with several diseases in humans, including bacterial infections, which are possible influencers in the host response to leprosy. Here, we investigated the presence of variants in the mtDNA genes encoding Complex I regarding leprosy, as well as the analysis of their pathogenicity in the studied cohort. We found an association of 74 mitochondrial variants with either of the polar forms, Pole T (Borderline Tuberculoid) or Pole L (Borderline Lepromatous and Lepromatous) of leprosy. Notably, six variants were exclusively found in both clinical poles of leprosy, including m.4158A>G and m.4248T>C in MT-ND1 , m.13650C>A, m.13674T>C, m.12705C>T and m.13263A>G in MT-ND5, of which there are no previous reports in the global literature. Our observations reveal a substantial number of mutations among different groups of leprosy, highlighting a diverse range of consequences associated with mutations in genes across these groups. Furthermore, we suggest that the six specific variants exclusively identified in the case group could potentially play a crucial role in leprosy susceptibility and its clinical differentiation. These variants are believed to contribute to the instability and dysregulation of oxidative phosphorylation during the infection, further emphasizing their significance.
Differential gene expression analysis supports dysregulation of mitochondrial activity as a new perspective for glioblastoma's aggressiveness Ricardo Cunha de Oliveira, Felipe Gouvea de Souza, Ana Gabrielle Bispo, Matheus Caetano Epifane-de-Assunção, Giovanna C. Cavalcante Heliyon, 2024 ). To validate the findings, we used other independent bulk RNA-seq datasets and evaluated the number of normalized counts of the DEGs founded. Among these genes, we highlight that none of them had been reported in glioblastoma until this research, and we suggest these genes as possible biomarkers to be further explored, since they are associated with essential pathways for the tumor, such as glucose metabolization, gluconeogenesis, calcium and vitamin D metabolism, tumor progression and activation of the invasion cascade.
Whole mitogenome sequencing uncovers a relation between mitochondrial heteroplasmy and leprosy severity Felipe Gouvea de Souza, Moisés Batista da Silva, Gilderlanio S. de Araújo, Caio S. Silva, Andrey Henrique Gama Pinheiro, Miguel Ángel Cáceres-Durán, Mayara Natália Santana-da-Silva, Pablo Pinto, Angélica Rita Gobbo, Patrícia Fagundes da Costa, Claudio Guedes Salgado, Ândrea Ribeiro-dos-Santos, Giovanna C. Cavalcante Human Genomics, 2023 Background In recent years, the 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. Methods We sequenced the whole mitochondrial genome to investigate variants and heteroplasmy levels, considering patients with different clinical forms of leprosy and household contacts. After sequencing, a specific pipeline was used for preparation and bioinformatics analysis to select heteroplasmic variants. 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 stand 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, as well as six genes that may influence leprosy susceptibility, 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 these variants.
ncRNAs: an unexplored cellular defense mechanism in leprosy Mayara Natália Santana-da-Silva, Camille Sena-dos-Santos, Miguel Ángel Cáceres-Durán, Felipe Gouvea de Souza, Angelica Rita Gobbo, Pablo Pinto, Claudio Guedes Salgado, Sidney Emanuel Batista dos Santos Frontiers in Genetics, 2023 Leprosy is an infectious disease primarily caused by the obligate intracellular parasite Mycobacterium leprae. Although it has been considered eradicated in many countries, leprosy continues to be a health issue in developing nations. Besides the social stigma associated with it, individuals affected by leprosy may experience nerve damage leading to physical disabilities if the disease is not properly treated or early diagnosed. Leprosy is recognized as a complex disease wherein socioenvironmental factors, immune response, and host genetics interact to contribute to its development. Recently, a new field of study called epigenetics has emerged, revealing that the immune response and other mechanisms related to infectious diseases can be influenced by noncoding RNAs. This review aims to summarize the significant advancements concerning non-coding RNAs in leprosy, discussing the key perspectives on this novel approach to comprehending the pathophysiology of the disease and identifying molecular markers. In our view, investigations on non-coding RNAs in leprosy hold promise and warrant increased attention from researches in this field.
Mitochondria in Mycobacterium Infection: From the Immune System to Mitochondrial Haplogroups Felipe Gouvea de Souza, Giovanna C. Cavalcante International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2022 In humans, mitochondria play key roles in the regulation of cellular functions, such as the regulation of the innate immune response and are targets of several pathogenic viruses and bacteria. Mycobacteria are intracellular pathogens that infect cells important to the immune system of organisms and target mitochondria to meet their energy demands. In this review, we discuss the main mechanisms by which mitochondria regulate the innate immune response of humans to mycobacterial infection, especially those that cause tuberculosis and leprosy. Notably, the importance of mitochondrial haplogroups and ancestry studies for mycobacterial diseases is also discussed.
