Lack of enzyme polymorphism in Trypanosoma rangeli stocks from sylvatic and domiciliary transmission cycles in Colombia.
Although Trypanosoma rangeli is biologically and morphologically distinct from Trypanosoma cruzi, these two hemoflagellates are epidemiologically linked. We report the results of enzyme electrophoretic studies of T. rangeli stocks isolated from sylvatic and domiciliary Rhodnius prolixus, and infected humans inhabiting foci in which T. cruzi was sympatrically transmitted. T. rangeli stocks displayed electrophoretically detectable polymorphism for only a single enzyme, isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICD), in contrast with the marked phenotypic heterogeneity previously reported among the T. cruzi stocks. The relatively restricted diversity manifested by stocks from different geographic sites and ecologic habitats may reflect the existence of distinctive biologic or genetic constraints influencing T. cruzi and T. rangeli transmission.
D000818:Animals; D003105:Colombia; D005843:Geography; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012239:Rhodnius / Q000469:parasitology; D014345:Trypanosoma / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics