This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Schriefer, A. Articles by Carvalho, E. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schriefer, A. Articles by Carvalho, E. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, January 2004, p. 508-514, Vol. 72, No. 1
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.1.508-514.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Multiclonal Leishmania braziliensis Population Structure and Its Clinical Implication in a Region of Endemicity for American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis

Serviço de Imunologia, Hospital Universitário Professor Edgard Santos, Universidade Federal da Bahia and Instituto de Investigação em Imunologia,¹ Laboratório de Pesquisa em Microbiologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Brazil,² Division of Infectious Disease, School of Public Health, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720³

Received 31 July 2003/ Returned for modification 16 September 2003/ Accepted 6 October 2003

In Corte de Pedra (CP), northeastern Brazil, Leishmania braziliensis causes three distinct forms of American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL). To test the hypothesis that strain polymorphism may be involved in this disease spectrum and accurately characterize the parasite population structure in CP, we compared one L. major, two non-CP L. braziliensis, one CP L. amazonensis, and 45 CP L. braziliensis isolates, obtained over a 10-year period from localized cutaneous, mucosal, and disseminated leishmaniasis patients, with randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Electrophoretic profiles were mostly unique across species. All typing protocols revealed polymorphism among the 45 CP L. braziliensis isolates, which displayed eight different RAPD patterns and greater than 80% overall fingerprint identity, attesting to the adequacy of the tools to assess strain variability in CP's geographically limited population of parasites. The dendrogram based on the sum of RAPD profiles of each isolate unveiled nine discrete typing units clustered into five clades. Global positioning showed extensive overlap of these clades in CP, precluding geographic sequestration as the mechanism of the observed structuralization. Finally, all forms of ATL presented a statistically significant difference in their frequencies among the clades, suggesting that L. braziliensis genotypes may be accompanied by specific disease manifestation after infection.

Editor: W. A. Petri, Jr.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• BOAVENTURA, V. S., CAFE, V., COSTA, J., OLIVEIRA, F., BAFICA, A., ROSATO, A., de FREITAS, L. A. R., BRODSKYN, C., BARRAL-NETTO, M., BARRAL, A. (2006). Concomitant early mucosal and cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil.. Am J Trop Med Hyg 75: 267-269 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Rotureau, B., Ravel, C., Nacher, M., Couppie, P., Curtet, I., Dedet, J.-P., Carme, B. (2006). Molecular Epidemiology of Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis in French Guiana. J. Clin. Microbiol. 44: 468-473 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• ROTUREAU, B. (2006). ECOLOGY OF THE LEISHMANIA SPECIES IN THE GUIANAN ECOREGION COMPLEX. Am J Trop Med Hyg 74: 81-96 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• CASTELLUCCI, L., CHENG, L. H., ARAUJO, C., GUIMARAES, L. H., LESSA, H., MACHADO, P., ALMEIDA, M. F., OLIVEIRA, A., KO, A., JOHNSON, W. D., WILSON, M. E., CARVALHO, E. M., DE JESUS, A. R. (2005). FAMILIAL AGGREGATION OF MUCOSAL LEISHMANIASIS IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL. Am J Trop Med Hyg 73: 69-73 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• MARCO, J. D., BARROSO, P. A., CALVOPINA, M., KUMAZAWA, H., FURUYA, M., KORENAGA, M., CAJAL, S. P., MORA, M. C., REA, M. M. J., BORDA, C. E., BASOMBRIO, M. A., TARANTO, N. J., HASHIGUCHI, Y. (2005). SPECIES ASSIGNATION OF LEISHMANIA FROM HUMAN AND CANINE AMERICAN TEGUMENTARY LEISHMANIASIS CASES BY MULTILOCUS ENZYME ELECTROPHORESIS IN NORTH ARGENTINA. Am J Trop Med Hyg 72: 606-611 [Abstract] [Full Text]