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 ...

We demonstrate the genetic transfer of DNA between eukaryotes from different kingdoms. The mitochondrial kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) of the intracellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is transferred to human patients with Chagas disease. This transfer was reproduced experimentally in rabbits and chickens. The kDNA is integrated into the host genome. In the human chromosomes, five loci were identified a...

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 (kDNA), the mitochondrial genome of trypanosomes, is a catenated network containing thousands of minicircles and tens of maxicircles. The topological complexity dictates some unusual features including a topoisomerase-mediated release-and-reattachment mechanism for minicircle replication and at least six mitochondrial DNA polymerases (Pols) for kDNA transactions. Previously, we ...

Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), the trypanosome mitochondrial genome, is a giant network containing several thousand interlocked DNA rings. Within the mitochondrion, kDNA is condensed into a disk-shaped structure positioned near the flagellar basal body. The disk is linked to the basal body by a remarkable transmembrane filament system named the tripartite attachment complex (TAC). Following kDNA repli...

The protozoa Crithidia and Trypanosoma contain within a mitochondrion a mass of DNA known as kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) which consists mainly of an association of thousands of small circular molecules of similar size held together by topological interlocking. Using kDNA from Crithidia acanthocephali, Crithidia luciliae, and Trypanosoma lewisi, physicochemical studies have been carried out with inta...

Integration of kDNA sequences within the genome of the host cell shown by PCR amplification with primers to the conserved Trypanosoma cruzi kDNA minicircle sequence was confirmed by Southern hybridization with specific probes. The cells containing the integrated kDNA sequences were then perpetuated as transfected macrophage subclonal lines. The kDNA transfected macrophages expressed membrane an...

Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), from trypanosomatid mitochondria, is a network containing several thousand catenated minicircles that is condensed into a disk-shaped structure in vivo. kDNA synthesis involves release of individual minicircles from the network, replication of the free minicircles and reattachment of progeny at two sites on the network periphery approximately 180 degrees apart. In Crithi...

Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), the mitochondrial DNA of trypanosomes, is an enormous network of interlocked minicircles and maxicircles. We selectively removed minicircles from Trypanosoma equiperdum kDNA networks by restriction enzyme cleavage. Maxicircles remained in aggregates that were resistant to protease or RNase and contained no residual minicircles, but were resolved into circular monomers by...

Introduced in the 1950s, ethidium bromide (EB) is still used as an anti-trypanosomal drug for African cattle although its mechanism of killing has been unclear and controversial. EB has long been known to cause loss of the mitochondrial genome, named kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), a giant network of interlocked minicircles and maxicircles. However, the existence of viable parasites lacking kDNA (dyski...