Protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania undergo a complex life cycle involving transmission by biting sand flies and replication within mammalian macrophage phagolysosomes. A major component of the Leishmania surface coat is the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored polysaccharide called lipophosphoglycan (LPG). LPG has been proposed to play many roles in the infectious cycle, including protection against complement and oxidants, serving as the major ligand for macrophage adhesion, and as a key factor mitigating host responses by deactivation of macrophage signaling pathways. However, all structural domains of LPG are shared by other major surface or secretory products, providing a biochemical redundancy that compromises the ability of in vitro tests to establish whether LPG itself is a virulence factor. To study truly lpg ؊ parasites, we generated Leishmania major lacking the gene LPG1 [encoding a putative galactofuranosyl (Galf) transferase] by targeted gene disruption. The lpg1 ؊ parasites lacked LPG but contained normal levels of related glycoconjugates and GPIanchored proteins. Infections of susceptible mice and macrophages in vitro showed that these lpg ؊ Leishmania were highly attenuated. Significantly and in contrast to previous LPG mutants, reintroduction of LPG1 into the lpg ؊ parasites restored virulence. Thus, genetic approaches allow dissection of the roles of this complex family of interrelated parasite virulence factors, and definitively establish the role of LPG itself as a parasite virulence factor. Because the lpg1 ؊ mutant continue to synthesize bulk GPI-anchored Galf-containing glycolipids other than LPG, a second pathway distinct from the Golgi-associated LPG synthetic compartment must exist.trypanosomatid parasites ͉ macrophages ͉ glycoconjugates ͉ galactofuranose

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The editing of RNA in trypanosomatid mitochondria involves the insertion and occasional deletion of uridine residues within coding regions of maxicircle messenger RNA transcripts. The extent to which the transcripts of homologous genes undergo editing differs in different species. In some, entire genes are edited (pan-editing), whereas in others, editing is limited to the 5' termini of editing domains (5' editing). Here we investigate which type of editing is ancestral and which is derived, by analysing RNA editing in the different lineages, using a kinetoplastid phylogeny reconstructed from nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA sequences. We conclude that the ancestral cryptogenes were pan-edited, and we hypothesize that the 5'-edited homologues were generated by several independent events from partially edited RNAs, in which case editing may be a more primitive mechanism than previously thought.

Leishmania promastigotes express an abundant cell surface glycoconjugate, lipophosphoglycan (LPG). LPG contains a polymer of the disaccharide‐phosphate repeat unit Galβ1,4Manα1‐PO4, shared by other developmentally regulated molecules implicated in parasite virulence. Functional complementation of a Leishmania donovani LPG‐defective mutant (OB1) accumulating a truncated LPG containing only the Manα1‐PO4 residue of the first repeat unit identified LPG3, the Leishmania homolog of the mammalian endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone GRP94. LPG3 resembles GRP94, as it localizes to the parasite ER, and lpg3− mutants show defects including down‐regulation of surface GPI‐anchored proteins and mild effects on other glycoconjugates. LPG3 binds cellular proteins and its Leishmania infantum GRP94 ortholog is highly immunogenic, suggesting a potential role in directing the immune response. However, null lpg3− mutants grow normally, are completely defective in the synthesis of phosphoglycans, and the LPG3 mRNA is regulated developmentally but not by stress or heat. Thus the role of LPG3/GRP94 in Leishmania metabolism differs significantly from other eukaryotes. Like the other glycoconjugate synthetic pathways in this parasite, its activity is focused on molecules implicated in virulence rather than viability.

Superoxide dismutase is an enzyme which converts superoxide O2- to hydrogen peroxide. Using a single synthetic oligonucleotide 33mer, we screened the E. coli DNA library and isolated a clone containing the E. coli manganese-superoxide dismutase gene. We determined the DNA sequence. The analysis of the DNA sequence and in vivo as well as in vitro transcription has shown the following. The DNA sequence suggests two possible promoters. However, only one of them seems active during normal aerobic growth. Purified RNA polymerase initiates in vitro transcription from the same promoter. It is not clear whether the second promoter is functional. It is possible that this promoter could be activated under different growth conditions. There is an inverted repeat sequence which could form a stem-loop structure downstream of the translation stop codon TAA of the Mn-SOD gene. The results of the analysis of in vivo and in vitro RNA have shown that this is the transcription termination signal. Thus, the Mn-SOD gene constitutes a single gene operon. There is an almost perfect 19 base palindrome at the -35 region. The position and the size of the palindrome suggest that this could be a regulatory site.

A panel of 114 blood samples from chronic chagasic patients and nonchagasic patients was screened for Trypanosoma cruzi by xenodiagnostic, serologic, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification tests. Blood samples were preserved in a guanidine-EDTA buffer, and total blood DNA was isolated after chemical nuclease cleavage with 1,10-phenanthroline-copper ion and used as a template for PCR amplification of the conserved and variable regions of T. cruzi minicircle molecules. The PCR products were screened by Southern blot hybridization with a digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotide probe specific for the conserved region of the minicircle. The method showed a sensitivity of 100%o compared with the serologic test. In addition, all of the serology-positive, xenodiagnosis-negative samples were positive by PCR. This demonstrates that PCR amplification of T. cruzi kinetoplast minicircle DNA could replace xenodiagnosis for evaluation of parasitemia in chronic chagasic patients and could serve as a complement for serologic testing in the screening of blood bank donors. Chagas' disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Latin America. The etiological agent, Trypanosoma

Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) was isolated from 56 stocks of Trypanosoma cruzi isolated from human patients, animals and insects from Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Costa Rica. Comparison of the patterns of digested kDNA on acrylamide gels led to the grouping of several stocks into two schizodemes. Schizodeme analysis was also performed using a set of 330-bp fragments representing all the variable regions of the minicircle DNA molecules, which were obtained by PCR amplification of the kDNA using conserved region primers. The results of this analysis were consistent with the analysis using total kDNA, but the more informative restriction profiles allowed the construction of additional schizodemes. In addition, two oligomers were generated from variable region sequences of cloned minicircles from a Y and a Cl strain, and these were used as schizodeme-specific probes to detect homologous sequences in the amplified minicircle DNAs. The results indicate that a combination of restriction enzyme fingerprinting and hybridization of amplified variable region minicircle DNA with schizodeme-specific probes can be used for both sensitive detection and classification of T. cruzi.

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