Leishmania Flashcards
Which genera belong to the family Kinetoplastids?
Leishmania & Trypanosoma
Define kinetoplast
a disk-shaped mass of circular DNA inside a large mitochondrion that contains many copies of the mitochondrial genome
What are maxi-circles?
ktDNA encoding several genes, similar to mitochondrial DNA.
the mRNAs coming from the maxi-circles has many errors in it and requires editing
What are mini-circles?
ktDNA that encodes guide DNAs (gDNA), which corrects the mistakes in the mRNA from the maxi-circles
Where does the guide DNA correct the mRNA of maxi-circles?
in the mitochondrion of kinetoplasts
What does the extent of editing correlate with?
different parasite life cycle stages and the corresponding changes in metabolism
What are the mini-circles used for in the lab?
parasite detection and distinguishing different isolates
What is the glycosome and what are its features?
- organelle in which glycolysis occurs
- single membrane
- equivalent to peroxisome
- contains glycolytic enzymes
What are the four major morphological forms found in kinetoplastids that cause human disease?
trypomastigote, amastigote, promatigote, epimastigote
What are the features of the trypomastigote?
- kinetoplast located on posterior end
- flagellum emerges from posterior end from basal body and folds back along the body of the parasite to form the undulating membrane
- free flagellum emerges from anterior end
What is the function of the undulating membrane?
increases motility
In which direction does the parasite move?
In the same direction as the orientation of the flagellum (forward from anterior end)
What are the features of the amastigote?
- sphere-shaped
- no free flagellum = non-motile
- basal body at base of flagellum
- kinetoplast is near the nucleus
- nucleus is at posterior
What are the features of the promastigote?
- kinetoplast at anterior end
- free flagellum with no undulating body
What are the features of the epimastigote?
- kinetoplast is centrally located, just anterior to nucleus
- flagellum emerges near center from basal body
- forms a shorter undulating membrane (not observable under microscope
- epimastigotes are less motile than trypomastigotes
What are the four types of leishmaniasis?
cutaneous, mucosal, visceral, and nodular post-kala-azar dermal
Which species of sandflies transmits leishmania in the New World?
Lutzomyia
Which species of sandflies transmits leishmania in the Old World?
Phlebotomus
How is leishmania spread?
Mostly zoonotic but can also spread through humans
One species can usually infect several different animal species