The Significance of Genetic Exchange in Trypanosomes

摘要

Rumours of genetic exchange in the genus Trypanosoma were finally confirmed in 1986 when the first experimental evidence of sexual reproduction in T. brucei was published. Since then, a number of laboratories have tried to unravel the mechanism of genetic exchange in T. brucei and the process is also being sought in other trypanosomatids. Wendy Gibson here gives an account of our present understanding of the process and its significance in Nature.