Kinetoplast Genome of Leishmania spp. Is under Strong Purifying Selection.

ABSTRACT: Instability is an intriguing characteristic of many protist genomes, and trypanosomatids are not an exception in this respect. Some regions of trypanosomatid genomes evolve fast. For instance, the trypanosomatid mitochondrial (kinetoplast) genome consists of fairly conserved maxicircle and minicircle molecules that can, nevertheless, possess high nucleotide substitution rates between closely related strains. Recent experiments have demonstrated that rapid laboratory evolution can result in the non-functionality of multiple genes of kinetoplast genomes due to the accumulation of mutations or loss of critical genomic components. An example of a loss of critical components is the reported loss of entire minicircle classes in Leishmania tarentolae during laboratory cultivation, which re

SUBMITTER: Gerasimov ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10458658 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature