59116
NHGRI Crithidia fasciculata
A cross genus comparison the genes and systems common to isolates from the African and American trypanosomes, and the Leishmania, which have diverged significantly from their free-living predecessors like the Bodonids, will identify those genes and systems (presence, or lack thereof) associated with a parasitic life style. Whereas this would best be performed using a free-living kinetoplastid (e.g., Bodo saltans), significant insight will be gained by study of and comparison of the genes and systems retained in or lost from the three pathogenic groups (e.g., the African and American Trypanosomes, and the Leishmania), as well as the outgroups T. rangeli, T. evansi, and Crithidia fasciculate). Other comparisons with Bodonids, Cryptobids, and other members of the Phylum Euglenozoa would also be helpful, but may be beyond the scope of this project.
NHGRI Trypanosomatids Project, close outgroup organism