Biochemistry of the Leishmania species.

Since 1980, there has been a burst of published reports describing the biochemistry of various human parasites. Interest in the biochemistry and molecular biology of the human parasites has increased greatly, in part because of the growing awareness of the morbidity and mortality they cause worldwide, especially in developing countries, and because of increased support for parasite research in the developing countries through programs sponsored by governments and various fQundations and philanthropic groups concerned about global health problems. This review focuses mainly on the enzymes and metabolic machinery of the Leishmania spp., the trypanosomatid genus responsible for the various forms of leishmaniasis in humans: visceral leishmaniasis (kala azar), mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (Espundia), and cutaneous leishmaniasis (Old World, oriental sore; New World, South and Central America) (23). It is appropriate to open this review with a quotation from an article that appeared in 1987 (68): "It has been estimated that 12 million new cases of leishmaniasis occur each year, yet remarkably little is known about the intermediary metabolism" of the causative organism. Our