title: Leishmania donovani: development and characterisation of a kinetoplast DNA probe and its use in the detection of parasites.
abstract: The polymerase chain reaction is used increasingly widely for the diagnosis of both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis and for the identification of asymptomatic carriers in the population in endemic disease areas. The use of complex-specific hybridisation probes in conjunction with the polymerase chain reaction increases the specificity as well as the sensitivity of the diagnostic procedure as it discriminates between different infecting Leishmania species. A minicircle kinetoplast DNA probe, B4 Rsa, which hybridizes to all members of the Leishmania (L.) donovani complex has been identified and characterised. It is a segment of a minicircle highly conserved in Bangladeshi and Indian L. (L.) donovani isolates.
authors.affiliation: Molteno Laboratory, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, U.K., CB2 1QP.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lambson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smyth
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Barker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000737:chemistry; D018105:DNA, Kinetoplast / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D018105:DNA, Kinetoplast