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First Evidence of Intraclonal Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomatids Using Two Leishmania infantum Fluorescent Transgenic Clones

BACKGROUND: The mode of reproduction in Leishmania spp has been argued to be essentially clonal. However, recent data (genetic analysis of populations and co-infections in sand flies) have proposed the existence of a non-obligate sexual cycle in the extracellular stage of the parasite within the san...

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Autores principales: Calvo-Álvarez, Estefanía, Álvarez-Velilla, Raquel, Jiménez, Maribel, Molina, Ricardo, Pérez-Pertejo, Yolanda, Balaña-Fouce, Rafael, Reguera, Rosa M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4154677/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25188587
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003075
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author Calvo-Álvarez, Estefanía
Álvarez-Velilla, Raquel
Jiménez, Maribel
Molina, Ricardo
Pérez-Pertejo, Yolanda
Balaña-Fouce, Rafael
Reguera, Rosa M.
author_facet Calvo-Álvarez, Estefanía
Álvarez-Velilla, Raquel
Jiménez, Maribel
Molina, Ricardo
Pérez-Pertejo, Yolanda
Balaña-Fouce, Rafael
Reguera, Rosa M.
author_sort Calvo-Álvarez, Estefanía
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The mode of reproduction in Leishmania spp has been argued to be essentially clonal. However, recent data (genetic analysis of populations and co-infections in sand flies) have proposed the existence of a non-obligate sexual cycle in the extracellular stage of the parasite within the sand fly vector. In this article we propose the existence of intraclonal genetic exchange in the natural vector of Leishmania infantum. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have developed transgenic L. infantum lines expressing drug resistance markers linked to green and red fluorescent reporters. We hypothesized whether those cells with identical genotype can recognize each other and mate. Both types of markers were successfully exchanged within the sand fly midgut of the natural vector Phlebotomus perniciosus when individuals from these species were fed with a mixture of parental clones. Using the yellow phenotype and drug resistance markers, we provide evidence for genetic exchange in L. infantum. The hybrid progeny appeared to be triploid based on DNA content analysis. The hybrid clone analyzed was stable throughout the complete parasite life cycle. The progress of infections by the hybrid clone in BALB/c mice caused a reduction in parasite loads in both spleen and liver, and provided weight values similar to those obtained with uninfected mice. Spleen arginase activity was also significantly reduced relative to parental strains. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A L. infantum hybrid lineage was obtained from intraclonal genetic exchange within the midgut of the natural vector, suggesting the ability of this parasite to recognize the same genotype and mate. The yellow hybrid progeny is stable throughout the whole parasite life cycle but with a slower virulence, which correlates well with the lower arginase activity detected both in vitro and in vivo infections.
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spelling pubmed-41546772014-09-08 First Evidence of Intraclonal Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomatids Using Two Leishmania infantum Fluorescent Transgenic Clones Calvo-Álvarez, Estefanía Álvarez-Velilla, Raquel Jiménez, Maribel Molina, Ricardo Pérez-Pertejo, Yolanda Balaña-Fouce, Rafael Reguera, Rosa M. PLoS Negl Trop Dis Research Article BACKGROUND: The mode of reproduction in Leishmania spp has been argued to be essentially clonal. However, recent data (genetic analysis of populations and co-infections in sand flies) have proposed the existence of a non-obligate sexual cycle in the extracellular stage of the parasite within the sand fly vector. In this article we propose the existence of intraclonal genetic exchange in the natural vector of Leishmania infantum. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have developed transgenic L. infantum lines expressing drug resistance markers linked to green and red fluorescent reporters. We hypothesized whether those cells with identical genotype can recognize each other and mate. Both types of markers were successfully exchanged within the sand fly midgut of the natural vector Phlebotomus perniciosus when individuals from these species were fed with a mixture of parental clones. Using the yellow phenotype and drug resistance markers, we provide evidence for genetic exchange in L. infantum. The hybrid progeny appeared to be triploid based on DNA content analysis. The hybrid clone analyzed was stable throughout the complete parasite life cycle. The progress of infections by the hybrid clone in BALB/c mice caused a reduction in parasite loads in both spleen and liver, and provided weight values similar to those obtained with uninfected mice. Spleen arginase activity was also significantly reduced relative to parental strains. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A L. infantum hybrid lineage was obtained from intraclonal genetic exchange within the midgut of the natural vector, suggesting the ability of this parasite to recognize the same genotype and mate. The yellow hybrid progeny is stable throughout the whole parasite life cycle but with a slower virulence, which correlates well with the lower arginase activity detected both in vitro and in vivo infections. Public Library of Science 2014-09-04 /pmc/articles/PMC4154677/ /pubmed/25188587 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003075 Text en © 2014 Calvo-Álvarez et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Calvo-Álvarez, Estefanía
Álvarez-Velilla, Raquel
Jiménez, Maribel
Molina, Ricardo
Pérez-Pertejo, Yolanda
Balaña-Fouce, Rafael
Reguera, Rosa M.
First Evidence of Intraclonal Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomatids Using Two Leishmania infantum Fluorescent Transgenic Clones
title First Evidence of Intraclonal Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomatids Using Two Leishmania infantum Fluorescent Transgenic Clones
title_full First Evidence of Intraclonal Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomatids Using Two Leishmania infantum Fluorescent Transgenic Clones
title_fullStr First Evidence of Intraclonal Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomatids Using Two Leishmania infantum Fluorescent Transgenic Clones
title_full_unstemmed First Evidence of Intraclonal Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomatids Using Two Leishmania infantum Fluorescent Transgenic Clones
title_short First Evidence of Intraclonal Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomatids Using Two Leishmania infantum Fluorescent Transgenic Clones
title_sort first evidence of intraclonal genetic exchange in trypanosomatids using two leishmania infantum fluorescent transgenic clones
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4154677/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25188587
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003075
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