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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Polysome Profiling in Leishmania, Human Cells and Mouse Testis
Published on: April 8, 2018
The chromosomes of Leishmania
1Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Abstract:
Chromosome size polymorphisms occur in Leishmania such that each strain of a given species has a distinctive molecular karyotype. Despite this variability, the chromosomal similarities among closely related strains of Leishmania are sufficiently characteristic to permit classification of unidentified clinical isolates. Mechanisms generating chromosome size polymorphisms are related to chromosomal evolution. In this review, Geoffrey Lighthall and Suzanne Giannini explain that the chromosomal profiles of members of different species may be diverging from a conserved 'consensus' karyotype at different rates, and present a current understanding of the genomic organization of Leishmania with emphasis on chromosomal elements.
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