27
February 2003
Chagas' disease: All change
Field studies suggest that the rapid evolution and adaptation of Trypanosoma cruzi, the Chagas' disease pathogen, may involve genetic recombination. Now by producing hybrid clones in the laboratory, Gaunt et al. demonstrate that a variety of genetic exchange mechanisms can occur in T. cruzi, including genome fusion, genome erosion and recombination. These mechanisms go some way towards explaining the variation seen in natural T. cruzi isolates.
Mechanism of genetic exchange in American trypanosomes
MICHAEL W. GAUNT, MATTHEW YEO, IAIN A. FRAME, J. RUSSELL STOTHARD,
HERNAN J. CARRASCO, MARTIN C. TAYLOR, SUSANA SOLIS MENA, PAUL VEAZEY, GRAHAM A.
J. MILES, NIDIA ACOSTA, ANTONIETA ROJAS DE ARIAS & MICHAEL A. MILES
Nature
421, 936–939 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01438
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