title: Identification of a differentially expressed mRNA in axenic Leishmania panamensis amastigotes.
abstract: Differential display technique was applied in order to identify transcripts which are present in axenic amastigotes but not in promastigotes of the Leishmania panamensis parasites. One of them was cloned and the sequence reveals an open reading frame of 364 amino acids (approximately 40 kDa). The deduced protein is homologous to the serine/threonine protein kinases and specially to the mitogen activates protein kinases from eukaryotic species. Southern blot analysis suggest that this transcript, named lpmkh, is present in the genome of the parasite as a single copy gene. These results could imply that lpmkh could be involved in the differentiation process or the preservation of amastigotes in axenic conditions.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Inmunologia, Hospital San Juan de Dios, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Puentes
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Patarroyo
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Murillo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D007891:Leishmania / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016053:RNA, Protozoan