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A previously unclassified trypanosomatid responsible for human cutaneous lesions in Martinique (French West Indies) is the most divergent member of the genus Leishmania ss

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2002

H. NOYES ,
F. PRATLONG ,
M. CHANCE ,
J. ELLIS ,
G. LANOTTE  and
J.-P. DEDET
H. NOYES
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
F. PRATLONG
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Parasitologie and Centre National de Référence des Leishmania, 163 Rue Auguste Broussonet, F-34090 Montpellier, France
M. CHANCE
Affiliation:
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK
J. ELLIS
Affiliation:
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Technology, Sydney NSW 2065, Australia
G. LANOTTE
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Parasitologie and Centre National de Référence des Leishmania, 163 Rue Auguste Broussonet, F-34090 Montpellier, France
J.-P. DEDET
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Parasitologie and Centre National de Référence des Leishmania, 163 Rue Auguste Broussonet, F-34090 Montpellier, France
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Abstract

Two cases of skin lesions similar to those caused by Leishmania parasites have been reported from Martinique. Parasites isolated from these lesions were unlike Leishmania reference strains by isoenzyme analysis and electron microscopy and were assumed to be monoxenous trypanosomatids which normally only infect invertebrates. Both strains have now been retyped by isoenzyme analysis and found to be identical to each other and distantly related to all other Leishmania species. The sequence of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene and partial sequences of the DNA polymerase alpha and RNA polymerase II largest subunit genes were obtained. These sequences indicated that the Martinique parasites clustered with L. enriettii and were basal to all other euleishmania. However, support for both the position basal to all euleishmania and the clustering with L. enriettii was low. The Martinique parasites may cluster with L.(Leishmania) or L.(Viannia) or form a novel clade within the euleishmania either with or without L. enriettii.

Keywords

leishmaniasisAntillesTrypanosomatidaecutaneous leishmaniasistaxonomy
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 124 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 17 - 24
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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