ANALYSIS OF DNA MICROSATELLITE SEQUENCE VARIATION AS A USEFUL TOOL FOR STUDYING THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF OLD WORLD LEISHMANIASES

摘要

Epidemiological studies of leishmaniases are often hampered by lack of highly discriminatory methods allowing for large-scale typing of isolates. Multilocus Microsatellite Typing (MLMT) is reliable and fast, capable to address key epidemiological and population genetic questions. In Leishmania, microsatellite markers are species-specific and different marker sets needed to be developed for L. tropica and the L. donovani complex. Genetically isolated populations were identified that correlated with place and time of isolation, and with differences in biological behaviour of the parasites.