Trypanosomatids Are Much More than Just Trypanosomes: Clues from the Expanded Family Tree

Abstract

Trypanosomes and leishmanias are widely known parasites of humans. However, they are just two out of several phylogenetic lineages that constitute the family Trypanosomatidae. Although dixeny - the ability to infect two hosts - is a derived trait of vertebrate-infecting parasites, the majority of trypanosomatids are monoxenous. Like their common ancestor, the monoxenous Trypanosomatidae are mostly parasites or commensals of insects. This review covers recent advances in the study of insect trypanosomatids, highlighting their diversity as well as genetic, morphological and biochemical complexity, which, until recently, was underappreciated. The investigation of insect trypanosomatids is providing an important foundation for understanding the origin and evolution of parasitism, including colonization of vertebrates and the appearance of human pathogens.

First Draft Genome of the Trypanosomatid Herpetomonas muscarum ingenoplastis through MinION Oxford Nanopore Technology and Illumina Sequencing

“…The family Trypanosomatidae encompasses parasites of vertebrates, invertebrates, or plants [1]. Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and human African trypanosomiasis are human diseases caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania spp.…”

LmxM.22.0250-Encoded Dual Specificity Protein/Lipid Phosphatase Impairs Leishmania mexicana Virulence In Vitro

“…are dixenous parasites, i.e. they have two different hosts in their life cycle [2,3]. The flagellated extracellular promastigotes develop in the gut of insect vectors, while the intracellular non-flagellated amastigotes occupy the phagolysosomes of vertebrates' macrophages [4,5].…”

“…Genes and gene products, governing differentiation or infection maintenance, are putative virulence factors. At present, they are identified primarily by the next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based approaches [3,6] and analyzed using functional genomics [7][8][9][10][11].…”

Practical Synthesis of Cap‐4 RNA

“…Recent studies have shown that 2′‐ O ‐methylations play a key role in cellular discrimination of endogenous from pathogenic RNA . Although various modifications of these caps have been discovered, surprisingly, the most complex methylation pattern known in nature was found in early eukaryotes, more precisely, within the Trypanosomatidae family from the Trypanosomatida order and the Kinetoplastida class . The relevant cap‐4 shows seven additional methylations in the first four nucleotides relative to cap‐0 (Figure ) …”