[Comparative genomics of trypanosomatid parasitic protozoa].

Trypanosomatid comparative genomics: Contributions to the study of parasite biology and different parasitic diseases

In 2005, draft sequences of the genomes of Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania major, also known as the Tri-Tryp genomes, were published. These protozoan parasites are the causative agents of three distinct insect-borne diseases, namely sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, all with a worldwide distribution. Despite the large estimated evolutionary distance among...

Royal Society Discussion Meeting: Utilising the Genome Sequence of Parasitic Protozoa

Protozoan parasites cause some of the world's most important diseases. Genome sequencing information is rapidly being acquired and combined with new developments in functional genome analysis to transform our understanding of parasites, and to enable new approaches to combating the diseases they cause.

Genome evolution in trypanosomatid parasites

A decade of genome sequencing has transformed our understanding of how trypanosomatid parasites have evolved and provided fresh impetus to explaining the origins of parasitism in the Kinetoplastida. In this review, I will consider the many ways in which genome sequences have influenced our view of genomic reduction in trypanosomatids; how species-specific genes, and the genomic domains they occ...

DNA Repair in Pathogenic Eukaryotic Cells: Insights from Comparative Genomics of Parasitic Protozoan

Targeting polyamines of parasitic protozoa in chemotherapy.

All parasitic protozoa contain polyamines and in recent years they, and their associated enzymes, have attracted attention as drug targets because they might reveal novel antiparasite therapies. How justified is this approach to drug discovery? In this review, Sylke Müller, Graham Coombs and Rolf Walter summarize the current status of research into drugs that exploit polyamine metabolism of try...