Identification of endotrypanum species from a sloth, a squirrel and Lutzomyia sandflies in ecuador by PCR amplification and sequencing of the mini-exon gene.
PCR amplification and nucleotide sequencing of the mini-exon gene revealed that four strains isolated from a sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni), a squirrel (Sciurus granatensis) and two sandflies (Lutzomyia hartmanni) in Ecuador were indistinguishable from Endotrypanum monterogeii. Another strain isolated from Lu. hartmanni showed the high sequence similarity to E. schaudinni. Since three of these strains have been previously identified as Leishmania (Viannia) equatorensis, the results demonstrate that L. (V.) equatorensis is genetically closely related to the genus Endotrypanum. The present study also indicates that Endotrypanum species are distributed in arboreal animals and sandflies in Ecuador, and that mini-exon gene amplification is useful for epidemiological studies of Leishmania and Endotrypanum in the New World.
Katakura
Ken
K
Department of Parasitology, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
Mimori
Tatsuyuki
T
Furuya
Masato
M
Uezato
Hiroshi
H
Nonaka
Shigeo
S
Okamoto
Munehiro
M
Gomez L
Eduardo A
EA
Hashiguchi
Yoshihisa
Y
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004484:Ecuador; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics*; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D007891:Leishmania / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011528:Protozoan Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal; D011576:Psychodidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D012589:Sciuridae / Q000469:parasitology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012896:Sloths / Q000469:parasitology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014351:Trypanosomatina / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*