Genome-wide stochastic adaptive DNA amplification at direct and inverted DNA repeats in the parasite Leishmania.

ABSTRACT: Gene amplification of specific loci has been described in all kingdoms of life. In the protozoan parasite Leishmania, the product of amplification is usually part of extrachromosomal circular or linear amplicons that are formed at the level of direct or inverted repeated sequences. A bioinformatics screen revealed that repeated sequences are widely distributed in the Leishmania genome and the repeats are chromosome-specific, conserved among species, and generally present in low copy number. Using sensitive PCR assays, we provide evidence that the Leishmania genome is continuously being rearranged at the level of these repeated sequences, which serve as a functional platform for constitutive and stochastic amplification (and deletion) of genomic segments in the population. This process is a

SUBMITTER: Ubeda JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4028189 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature