title: Leishmania donovani zymodeme MON-37 isolated from an autochthonous visceral leishmaniasis patient in Sri Lanka.
abstract: Although the strain causing cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Sri Lanka was first identified in 2003, the strain causing visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has not yet been identified. We report the first isoenzyme typing of a strain causing VL in Sri Lanka at an early stage of emergence of  VL in the country. The parasite was isolated from a 57-year-old civil soldier who had been in the jungle in the Vavuniya district in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka for a period of nearly 6 months immediately before the onset of symptoms. Multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) revealed  that the strain is Leishmania donovani zymodeme MON-37, the zymodeme which was previously identified from the CL patients in the country. The MLEE analysis was confirmed by sequencing the gene encoding the 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase isoenzyme. This is an instance of the same Leishmania  zymodeme associated with both dermotropism and viscerotropism in the same geographic region. Further investigations into the genetic structure and identification of virulence factors in the parasite and immune factors in the host are required to understand the factors responsible for different  tropism shown by the same zymodeme MON-37 L. donovani from Sri Lanka.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka. shalindraran12@gmail.com
authors.forename: Shalindra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ranasinghe
authors.forename: Wen-Wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Renu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wickremasinghe
authors.forename: Priyanka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abeygunasekera
authors.forename: Vishvanath
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chandrasekharan
authors.forename: Sunethra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Athauda
authors.forename: Suresh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mendis
authors.forename: Sanjeeva
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hulangamuwa
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Matlashewski
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pratlong
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods; D005954:Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D007891:Leishmania / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000469:parasitology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013188:Sri Lanka
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D007527:Isoenzymes; D005954:Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase