Description of Leishmania (Leishmania) forattinii sp. n., a new parasite infecting opossums and rodents in Brazil

Abstract

A new parasite species of Leishmania is described, L. (Leishmania) forattinii sp. n., which was isolated from a pooled triturate of liver and spleen of a opossum (Didelphis marsupialis aurita) and from skin samples from a rodent (Proechmys iheringi denigratus), captured in primary forest on the Atlantic Cost of Brazil. Our results on the basis of biological and molecular criteria indicate that this taxonomically distinct parasite ias a new species of the L. mexicana complex, but closely related to L. (L.) aristidesi Laison & shaw, 1979, as revelated by phenetic and phylogenetic numerical analyses of the enzyme data. L. forattinii was clearly distinguishable from other Leishmania species of the genus usisng enzyme electrophoresis, monoclonal antibodies, molecular karyotypes, analysis of restriction enzyme digestion patterns of kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), as well as the use of kDNA hybridization procedures

Monoclonal antibodies for the identification of New World Leishmania species

“…The results with specific monoclonal antibodies on both the identification and classification of leishmanial parasites were also confirmed, using in parallel isoenzyme electrophoresis (including numerical zymotaxonomic analyses) and other molecular techniques such as analysis of restriction enzyme digestion patterns of kinetoplast DNA and molecular karyotypes , Hashiguchi et al 1991, Bonfante-Garrido et al 1992, Yoshida et al 1993, Cupolillo et al 1994. Leishmania promastigotes were cultured in Schneider's Drosophila Medium (Gibco, Grand Island, NY) (Hendricks et al 1978) supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum (Flow Laboratories, McLean, VA) at 24°C.…”

“…Taxonomic studies of Leishmania isolates from the New World indicate tremendous diversity within this genus (Cupolillo et al 1994). A number of new Leishmania species have been described recently from sylvan areas of the Neotropics (Silveira et al 1987, Lainson & Shaw 1989, Yoshida et al 1993. Some other taxonomically distinct taxa, isolated from wild mammals and vectors in the Brazilian Amazon Region, have also been described as unnamed new species (Lainson & Shaw 1987.…”

On Leishmania enriettii and Other Enigmatic Leishmania Species of the Neotropics

“…In a later comparison of the two isolates with other species of Leishmania using biological, biochemical and molecular criteria, it was concluded that they were of a previously undescribed parasite, which received the name of L. (L.) forattinii, and was considered to be most closely related to L. (L.) aristidesi (Yoshida et al 1993). This relationship was again indicated by Cupolillo et al (1994) who, in a paper on the numerical zymotaxonomy of neotropical Leishmania species, stated that the two isolates of the parasite "....were classified in a zymodeme......related to L. aristidesi in the cladistic analysis, as well as by other data using monoclonal antibodies".…”

<i>Leishmania</i> in Marsupials—An Overview of Infection Records in the Americas and Australia

“…The authors considered the probable importance of marsupials as hosts of Leishmania, in addition to rodents. In the second paper, Yoshida et al [21] characterized the Leishmania species that was isolated from the D. aurita of their previous note as Leishmania mexicana, and in the third paper, Yoshida et al [22] described Leishmania (L.) foratinii as a new parasite species infecting opossums and rodents captured in primary Atlantic Forest. The fourth record for São Paulo was mentioned above under the account for D. albiventris, where Santiago et al [18] observed that 91.6% of the marsupials they tested were naturally infected; however, this was attributed to the two species D. albiventris and D. aurita, combined.…”