Genetic diversity of Leishmania infantum field populations from Brazil

• Published in: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Vol. 107; no. 1; pp. 39 - 47
• Main Authors: Segatto, Marcela, Ribeiro, Lucas Secchim, Costa, Dorcas Lamounier, Costa, Carlos Henrique Nery, Oliveira, Márcia Rosa de, Carvalho, Sílvio Fernando Guimarães, Macedo, Andréa Mara, Valadares, Helder Magno Silva, Dietze, Reynaldo, Brito, Cristiana Ferreira Alves de, Lemos, Elenice Moreira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz 01-02-2012; Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde; Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ)
• Subjects: Animals; Brazil; Cluster Analysis; DNA, Protozoan - genetics; Dogs; genetic diversity; Genetic Variation - genetics; Genotype; Humans; Leishmania infantum; Leishmania infantum - genetic diversity - MLMT - RAPD - SSR-PCR; Leishmania infantum - genetics; Leishmania infantum - isolation & purification; Microsatellite Repeats; MLMT; Molecular Typing; PARASITOLOGY; PCR; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; RAPD; SSR; TROPICAL MEDICINE; Brazil; genetic diversity; Leishmania infantum; MLMT; SSR; RAPD; PCR
• ISSN: 1678-8060; 0074-0276; 1678-8060; 0074-0276
• DOI: 10.1590/S0074-02762012000100006

Leishmania infantum (syn. Leishmania chagasi ) is the etiological
agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Brazil. The epidemiology of VL
is poorly understood. Therefore, a more detailed molecular
characterization at an intraspecific level is certainly needed. Herein,
three independent molecular methods, multilocus microsatellite
typing(MLMT), random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and simple
sequence repeats-polymerase chain reaction(SSR-PCR), were used to
evaluate the genetic diversity of 53 L. infantum isolates from five
different endemic areas in Brazil. Population structures were inferred
by distance-based and Bayesian-based approaches. Eighteen very similar
genotypes were detected by MLMT, most of them differed in only one
locus and no correlation was found between MLMT profiles, geographical
origin or the estimated population structure. However, complex profiles
composed of 182 bands obtained by both RAPD and SSR-PCR assays gave
different results. Unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean
trees built from these data revealed a high degree of homogeneity
within isolates of L. infantum. Interestingly, despite this genetic
homogeneity, most of the isolates clustered according to their
geographical origin.