title: Correlation of meta 1 expression with culture stage, cell morphology and infectivity in Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis promastigotes.
abstract: The parasitic protozoan Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis alternates between mammalian and insect hosts. In the insect host, the parasites proliferate as procyclic promastigotes and then differentiate into metacyclic infective forms. The meta 1 gene is preferentially expressed during metacyclogenesis. Meta 1 expression profile determination along parasite growth curves revealed that the meta 1 mRNA level peaked at the early stationary phase then decreased to an intermediate level. No correlation was observed between meta 1 expression and infectivity. Conversely, infectivity correlated with the increase of apoptotic cells in the late stationary phase.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. marsant2@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Marcos Gonzaga dos
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Maria Fernanda Laranjeira da
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Ricardo Andrade
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Zampieri
authors.forename: Rafaella Marino
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Lafraia
authors.forename: Lucile Maria
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Floeter-Winter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D007894:Leishmania mexicana / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016053:RNA, Protozoan