mini-exon genotyping of leishmania species in khuzestan province, southwest iran

background: leishmaniasis is a protozoan disease cause by leishmania genus. anthroponotic and zoono­tic cutaneous leishmaniasis are endemic in iran. the aim of this study was to identify the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis by mini-exon gene in five regions of khuzestan province, southwest of iran. methods: from 2007 to 2008 in this cross-sectional study, cutaneous samples were collected from patients referred to health centers and hospitals of the khuzestan province for cutaneous leishmaniasis diagnosis and cultured in novy-macneal-nicolle (nnn) and rpmi 1640. the propagated promastigotes were harvested and leishmania species of cutaneous leishmaniasis were identified by rflp and dna sequencing of the pcr generated fragments. results: l. major and l. tropica were the causative agents of cutaneous leishmaniasis by predomi­nantly of l. major species. the alignment of the mini-exon sequencing isolates with re­ported sequencing of l. major and l. tropica revealed 92%-99% identity. conclusion: our study showed that mini-exon pcr-rflp was useful method to identify the causa­tive species of cutaneous leishmaniasis.