Abstract

Chromosome size polymorphisms occur in Leishmania such that each strain of a given species has a distinctive molecular karyotype. Despite this variability, the chromosomal similarities among closely related strains of Leishmania are sufficiently characteristic to permit classification of unidentified clinical isolates. Mechanisms generating chromosome size polymorphisms are related to chromosomal evolution. In this review, Geoffrey Lighthall and Suzanne Giannini explain that the chromosomal profiles of members of different species may be diverging from a conserved 'consensus' karyotype at different rates, and present a current understanding of the genomic organization of Leishmania with emphasis on chromosomal elements.

View details for Web of Science ID A1992HW56100005

View details for PubMedID 15463615