title: Leishmania tarentolae taxonomic relatedness inferred from phylogenetic analysis of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene.
abstract: The sequence of the Leishmania tarentolae SSU rRNA (small subunit or 18S rRNA) gene was completely determined from 2 different strains and used to determine phylogenetic relationships between this organism and other trypanosomatids. Extensive structural similarities were observed between L. tarentolae and mammalian leishmanias the SSU rRNA. Phylogenetic reconstructions, using distance matrix or parsimony methods, showed large evolutionary distances between trypanosomes, either African and American, and L. tarentolae. Further analysis using intergenic rDNA spacer (IGS) sequences as probes in dot blot experiments confirmed the results obtained with the SSU rDNA comparisons. The data presented here clearly indicate that L. tarentolae is closely related to the mammalian parasite Leishmania donovani and highly divergent from trypanosomes.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Briones
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Beverley
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Affonso
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Camargo
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Floeter-Winter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D007891:Leishmania / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D016053:RNA, Protozoan; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S