Genome Analysis of Triploid Hybrid Leishmania Parasite from the Neotropics

Authors :: Frederik Van den Broeck
Senne Heeren
Ilse Maes
Mandy Sanders
James A. Cotton
Elisa Cupolillo
Eugenia Alvarez
Lineth Garcia
Maureen Tasia
Alice Marneffe
Jean-Claude Dujardin
Gert Van der Auwera
Source :: Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 29, Iss 5, Pp 1076-1078 (2023)
Publication Year :: 2023
Publisher :: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023.
Abstract: We discovered a hybrid Leishmania parasite in Costa Rica that is genetically similar to hybrids from Panama. Genome analyses demonstrated the hybrid is triploid and identified L. braziliensis and L. guyanensis–related strains as parents. Our findings highlight the existence of poorly sampled Leishmania (Viannia) variants infectious to humans.