Polymorphism analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and small subunit of ribosomal RNA genes of Leishmania mexicana (original) (raw)

Abstract.

Leishmania mexicana causes a wide spectrum of clinical diseases. In spite of the variety of clinical forms, no data exist regarding genetic polymorphism of L. mexicana. We analyzed the polymorphism of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and the small subunit rRNA genes of 3 reference strains and 24 Mexican isolates of L. mexicana, by means of polymerase chain reaction and subsequent digestion by restriction enzymes.

All strains of L. mexicana had invariant patterns for both the ITS and the small subunit of rRNA genes. Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania venezuelensis displayed polymorphism only in the ITS. The high degree of identity of this region was confirmed by sequencing DNA from three L. mexicana isolates_._ There was almost complete identity of the sequence for the ITS region of L. venezuelensis and that of strains of Leishmania major, suggesting that these species may be more closely related than previously thought.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Departamento de Medicina Experimental, Facultad de Medicina, U.N.A.M., Dr. Balmis 148, Colonia Doctores, México D.F., 06726 México, , , , ,
   Miriam Berzunza-Cruz, Marco Crippa-Rossi & Ingeborg Becker
2. Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, U.N.A.M., México D.F., 04510 México, , , , ,
   Nallely Cabrera & Ruy Pérez-Montfort
3. Centro de Investigaciones en Enfermedades Tropicales, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, SSA Mexico, , , , ,
   Tayde Sosa Cabrera

Authors

1. Miriam Berzunza-Cruz
2. Nallely Cabrera
3. Marco Crippa-Rossi
4. Tayde Sosa Cabrera
5. Ruy Pérez-Montfort
6. Ingeborg Becker

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Berzunza-Cruz, M., Cabrera, N., Crippa-Rossi, M. et al. Polymorphism analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and small subunit of ribosomal RNA genes of Leishmania mexicana .Parasitol Res 88, 918–925 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-002-0672-x

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• Received: 21 January 2002
• Accepted: 18 March 2002
• Issue date: October 2002
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-002-0672-x

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