Authors

N Kraeva, A Ishemgulova, D Faktorova, L Podesvova, J Lukes, V Yurchenko ¹ Biology Centre, Institute of Parasitology, ASCR, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic;  ² Life Science Research Centre, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic

Discussion

Leishmania mexicana is a flagellated protist of the family Trypanosomatidae causing cutaneous leishmaniosis in humans. The genome sequence of this medically important parasite is available, but our understanding of its biology still critically depends on functional analysis of the L. mexicana proteins. At the moment, set of genetic tools for functional analysis is limited. In this work we established a T7 polymerase-driven Tetracycline-inducible protein expression system in L. mexicana (isolate MNYC/BZ/62/M379). We used this system to analyze gene expression profiles during Leishmania development in procyclic-, metacyclic promastigotes, and amastigotes. The transcription of the gene of interest was significantly reduced upon cell differentiation. This was explained by the reduced transcription of the T7 polymerase and Tet repressor. The regulation was not locus-specific and depended on untranslated regions flanking open reading frames of the analyzed genes. This system can be broadly used by the parasitology community to assess effects of certain genes on biology, physiology and virulence of parasites causing cutaneous leishmaniases. However, it may not be suitable for Leishmania differentiation studies.