1. The paraphyletic composition of Leishmania donovani zymodeme MON-37 revealed by multilocus microsatellite typing.
- Author
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Alam MZ, Haralambous C, Kuhls K, Gouzelou E, Sgouras D, Soteriadou K, Schnur L, Pratlong F, and Schönian G
- Subjects
- Africa, Eastern, Animals, China, Cluster Analysis, Cyprus, Genotype, Geography, Humans, India, Israel, Leishmania donovani genetics, Middle East, Molecular Epidemiology, Phylogeny, DNA Fingerprinting methods, DNA, Protozoan genetics, Leishmania donovani classification, Leishmania donovani isolation & purification, Leishmaniasis, Visceral parasitology, Microsatellite Repeats
- Abstract
Multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) was employed to compare strains of Leishmania donovani belonging to the MON-37 zymodeme (MON-37 strains) from Cyprus and Israel to MON-37 strains from the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, China and East Africa as well as strains of other zymodemes. The MLMT data were processed with a distance-based method for construction of phylogenetic trees, factorial correspondence analysis and a Bayesian model-based clustering algorithm. All three approaches assigned the MON-37 strains to different distantly related genetically defined subgroups, corresponding to their geographical origin. Specifically, the Kenyan, Sri Lankan and Indian MON-37 strains were genetically closer to strains of other zymodemes from the same regions than to MON-37 strains from other areas. MON-37 strains from Cyprus and Israel were clearly different not only among themselves, but also compared to all the other MON-37 strains studied and could, therefore, be autochthonous. This study showed that the zymodeme MON-37 is paraphyletic and does not reflect the genetic relationship between strains of different geographical origin.
- Published
- 2009
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