Correlation of meta 1 expression with culture stage, cell morphology and infectivity in Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis promastigotes

• Main Authors: Marcos Gonzaga dos Santos, Maria Fernanda Laranjeira da Silva, Ricardo Andrade Zampieri, Rafaella Marino Lafraia, Lucile Maria Floeter-Winter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2011-03-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: meta 1 expression; metacyclic morphology; phosphatidylserine exposure
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762011000200012&lng=en&tlng=en
• ISSN: 1678-8060

The parasitic protozoan Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis alternates between mammalian and insect hosts. In the insect host, the parasites proliferate as procyclic promastigotes andthen differentiate into metacyclic infective forms. The meta 1 gene is preferentially expressed during metacyclogenesis. Meta 1 expression profile determination along parasite growth curves revealed that the meta 1 mRNA level peaked at the early stationary phase then decreased to an intermediate level. No correlation was observed between meta 1 expression and infectivity. Conversely, infectivity correlated with the increase of apoptotic cells in the late stationary phase.