title: Morphological and molecular description of Blastocrithidia cyrtomeni sp. nov. (Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatidae) associated with Cyrtomenus bergi Froeschner (Hemiptera: Cydnidae) from Colombia.
abstract: A new trypanosomatid species, Blastocrithidia cyrtomeni, is herein described using morphological and molecular data. It was found parasitising the alimentary tract of the insect host Cyrtomenus bergi, a polyphagous pest. The morphology of B. cyrtomeni was investigated using light and transmission microscopy and molecular phylogeny was inferred from the sequences of spliced leader RNA (SL rRNA) - 5S rRNA gene repeats and the 18S small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene. Epimastigotes of variable size with straphanger cysts adhering to the middle of the flagellum were observed in the intestinal tract, hemolymph and Malpighian tubules. Kinetoplasts were always observed anterior to the nucleus. The ultrastructure of longitudinal sections of epimastigotes showed the flagellum arising laterally from a relatively shallow flagellar pocket near the kinetoplast. SL RNA and 5S rRNA gene repeats were positive in all cases, producing a 0.8-kb band. The amplicons were 797-803 bp long with > 98.5% identity, indicating that they originated from the same organism. According to the sequence analysis of the SL-5S rRNA gene repeats and the 18S SSU rRNA gene, B. cyrtomeni is different from all other known species or isolates of Trypanosomatidae. Both analyses indicate that among known species, it is most closely related to Blastocrithidia triatomae.
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Valle, Colombia. anamcaicedo@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Ana Milena
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Caicedo
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gallego
authors.forename: Jaime Eduardo
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suárez
authors.forename: Andrés Gerardo
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: Humberto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Carvajal
authors.forename: Fanny Caro De
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Carvajal
authors.forename: Andrés Mauricio
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Posso
authors.forename: Dmitriv
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maslov
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Montoya-Lerma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003105:Colombia; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000145:classification / Q000469:parasitology*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D020038:RNA, Spliced Leader / Q000235:genetics*; D014351:Trypanosomatina / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D016053:RNA, Protozoan; D020038:RNA, Spliced Leader