Genetic exchange in trypanosomes.
The process of genetic exchange in trypanosomes was first described 10 years ago, when Jenni and colleagues obtained hybrid trypanosomes after cotransmitting 2 Trypanosoma brucei ssp. clones through the tsetse fly. The process is a non-obligatory part of the trypanosome life cycle and takes place in the fly, probably during development in the salivary glands. Nuclear DNA markers are inherited for the most-part in a mendelian fashion, indicating that meiosis is involved. However, there is no evidence for haploid gametes. Analysis of the inheritance of kinetoplast DNA, the trypanosome's mitochondrial DNA, indicates that trypanosome mitochondria fuse during genetic exchange, allowing parental kDNAs to mix. Population genetics analysis of natural T. brucei ssp. provides little support for random or widespread mating in the wild. However, even very rate mating events, by mobilising genes for drug resistance, virulence or human infectivity into other genetic backgrounds, could have implications for the generation of epidemics.
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D000818:Animals; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D018105:DNA, Kinetoplast / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D004175:Diptera / Q000469:parasitology; D005828:Genetics, Population; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000235:genetics*
D018105:DNA, Kinetoplast; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial