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Molecular Evolution and Phylogeny of Leishmania

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Drug Resistance in Leishmania Parasites

Summary

The genus Leishmania was first described in 1903. Various numbers of species have been described since then. Although recent hierarchical taxonomic schemes have increasingly used intrinsic characters to assign Leishmania organisms into different species, they are still heirs of the first classifications based primarily on extrinsic characters. The current classification system, which proposes up to 35 species, is based on multilocus enzyme electrophoresis which is still the reference technique for the identification of Leishmania species. Molecular phylogenies of Leishmania suggest that the number of species may be too large. Furthermore, it is still controversial whether the genus Leishmania appeared first in the Old World or in the New World although several rooted sequenced-based phylogenies favor a neotropical origin.

Many molecular markers have demonstrated substantial intraspecies diversity and the existence of geographically and genetically isolated populations in all Leishmania species tested so far. A predominantly clonal evolution has been proposed for Leishmania with rare sexual recombination events. This hypothesis has repeatedly been challenged by the detection of hybrids, mosaic genotypes, and gene flow between populations, strong inbreeding and, finally, the detection of genetic recombination under laboratory conditions.

This chapter reviews the recent (mostly) molecular data that provide new insights into the evolution, taxonomy, phylogenetic, and population genetic relationships of Leishmania, but also the questions raised by this knowledge. It also discusses the power of modern approaches, such as multilocus sequence typing and multilocus microsatellite typing for studying the inter- and intraspecies variation of Leishmania parasites.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the many authors that have contributed to what we know today about the molecular evolution and phylogeny of Leishmania and whose work is not cited herein, in particular those who have worked with us, and all of those with whom we have had discussions about this subject. We acknowledge the financial support of European Union (grants QLK2-CT-2001-01810, INCO-CT2005-015407), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHO 448/6 and 448/8), Wellcome Trust (078742/Z05/Z), and the Brazilian financial agencies CNPq, FAPERJ, and FINEP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Institut für Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Campus Charité Mitte, Dorotheenstraße 96, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Gabriele Schönian

  2. Laboratório de Pesquisa em Leishmaniose, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz-FIOCRUZ, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Elisa Cupolillo

  3. Unidade de Parasitologia e Microbiologia Médicas, UEI Parasitologia Médica, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, R. da Junqueira, 100, Lisboa, Portugal

    Isabel Mauricio

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  1. Gabriele Schönian
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  2. Elisa Cupolillo
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  3. Isabel Mauricio
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Correspondence to Gabriele Schönian .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Medicina, Instituto de Medicina Experimental, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, 1062, Venezuela

    Alicia Ponte-Sucre

  2. Universidad Central de Venezuela, ciudad universitaria, Caracas, 1062, Venezuela

    Emilia Diaz

  3. Universidad Central de Venezuela, ciudad universitaria, Caracas, 1062, Venezuela

    Maritza Padrón-Nieves

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Schönian, G., Cupolillo, E., Mauricio, I. (2013). Molecular Evolution and Phylogeny of Leishmania . In: Ponte-Sucre, A., Diaz, E., Padrón-Nieves, M. (eds) Drug Resistance in Leishmania Parasites. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-1125-3_2

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