Cesium chloride centrifugation of DNA extracted from cells of blood strain Trypanosoma lewisi revealed a main band, rho = 1.707, a light satellite, rho = 1.699, and a heavy satellite, rho = 1.721. Culture strain T. lewisi DNA comprised only a main band, rho = 1.711, and a light satellite, rho = 1.699. DNA isolated from DNase-treated kinetoplast fractions of both the blood and culture strains co...

In a recent paper (5), Noyes et al. discussed a nested-PCRbased approach for identification and analysis of Leishmania kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicircle classes using the analysis of minicircle variable-region (VR) restriction profiles. The kDNA of trypanosomatids consists of catenated minicircle (approximately 5 3 10 to 5 3 10 per associate) and maxicircle (20 to 50 per associate) molecules (8...

Dyskinetoplastic cells from both Crithidia fasciculata and Trypanosoma equiperdum lack detectable kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) by conventional staining techniques. Two dyskinetoplastic strains of T. equiperdum, either acriflavine-induced or spontaneously occurring, show normal amounts of kDNA (p = 1.692 g/cm3) in analytical caesium chloride, ultracentrifugation. Electron and fluorescence microscopy o...

Kinetoplast DNA is the unusual mitochondrial DNA of trypanosomes. In Trypanosoma brucei it consists of about lo* minicircles (0.3 km) and lo* maxicircles (6 pm) catenated into a single network. The maxicircles are probably the equivalent of mitochondrial DNA in other organisms. Here we report that a fraction of the total cellular RNA from bloodstream form and culture form T. brucei hybridizes w...

In a recent paper (5), Noyes et al. discussed a nested-PCRbased approach for identification and analysis of Leishmania kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicircle classes using the analysis of minicircle variable-region (VR) restriction profiles. The kDNA of trypanosomatids consists of catenated minicircle (approximately 5 3 10 to 5 3 10 per associate) and maxicircle (20 to 50 per associate) molecules (8...

Eight Leishmania promastigotes were isolated from different geographical areas: three (LP1, LP2, and LP3) from the provincial department La Libertad and the fourth (LP4) from the department of Cajamarca (northern Peru); another three (LM1, LM2, and LM3) in the province of Campeche (Mexico); and the last (LS1) from a clinical case of a dog in Madrid (Spain). The isolates were characterized by ca...

The kinetoplast (k), the uniquely packaged mitochondrial DNA of trypanosomatid protists is formed by a catenated network of minicircles and maxicircles that divide and segregate once each cell cycle. Although many proteins involved in kDNA replication and segregation are now known, several key steps in the replication mechanism remain uncharacterized at the molecular level, one of which is the ...

Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania (Ross, 1903) and is the focus of considerable attention in human and veterinary medicine. In the city of Campo Grande, MS, the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis is Leishmania infantum (= L. chagasi) primary vector, comprising approximately 92.9% of the local sandfly population, is Lutzomyia longipalpis. The a...