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Science 10 April 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5924, pp. 265 - 268
DOI: 10.1126/science.1169464
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Reports

Demonstration of Genetic Exchange During Cyclical Development of Leishmania in the Sand Fly Vector

Natalia S. Akopyants,1* Nicola Kimblin,2* Nagila Secundino,2 Rachel Patrick,2 Nathan Peters,2 Phillip Lawyer,2 Deborah E. Dobson,1 Stephen M. Beverley,1{dagger} David L. Sacks2{dagger}{ddagger}

Genetic exchange has not been shown to be a mechanism underlying the extensive diversity of Leishmania parasites. We report here evidence that the invertebrate stages of Leishmania are capable of having a sexual cycle consistent with a meiotic process like that described for African trypanosomes. Hybrid progeny were generated that bore full genomic complements from both parents, but kinetoplast DNA maxicircles from one parent. Mating occurred only in the sand fly vector, and hybrids were transmitted to the mammalian host by sand fly bite. Genetic exchange likely contributes to phenotypic diversity in natural populations, and analysis of hybrid progeny will be useful for positional cloning of the genes controlling traits such as virulence, tissue tropism, and drug resistance.

1 Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
2 Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

* {dagger}These authors contributed equally to this work.

{ddagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dsacks{at}nih.gov

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Extreme inbreeding in Leishmania braziliensis.
V. Rougeron, T. De Meeus, M. Hide, E. Waleckx, H. Bermudez, J. Arevalo, A. Llanos-Cuentas, J.-C. Dujardin, S. De Doncker, D. Le Ray, et al. (2009)
PNAS 106, 10224-10229
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)