Elongation factor-1alpha plays an essential role in eukaryotic protein biosynthesis. Recently, we have shown by protein structure modeling the presence of a hairpin-loop of 12 amino acids in mammalian EF-1alpha that is absent in the leishmania homologue [D. Nandan, A. Cherkasov, R. Sabouti, T. Yi, N.E. Reiner, Molecular cloning, biochemical and structural analysis of elongation factor-1 alpha f...

We report a transient expression transfection system in Leishmania enriettii. A hybrid gene containing an intergenic region of the alpha-tubulin cluster and the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT; EC 2.3.1.28) gene is expressed after transfection of L. enriettii with the hybrid plasmid. The expression of the CAT gene is dependent on the presence of sequences from the alpha-tubulin...

Zoonotic leishmaniosis due to Leishmania infantum is a vector-borne disease endemic in southern Europe and dogs are the main reservoir for this infection. Seasonal variations antibody titers species areas where phlebotomine vectors have seasonal patterns of activity important epidemiological, preventive clinical studies related with canine leishmaniosis. It has been suggested that cats, rabbits...

Leishmania infantum and Leishmania donovani both pertain to the L. (L.) donovani complex. The status of certain strains is questioned in the literature and there are no reliable discriminative markers to identify them. Molecular tools are needed to (i) identify diagnostic markers and (ii) to allow a better understanding of phylogenetic relationships. We have developed a PCR based on cysteine pr...

We have developed a PCR assay that in a single reaction distinguishes between Leishmania infantum and Leishmania donovani strains on the basis of different size of the amplicon. The targeted intergenic region between putative biopterin transporter and nucleotide binding protein on chromosome 35 is highly variable, species-specific and can be amplified from clinical samples. Based on the assay, ...