Biochemical and molecular characterization ofLeishmania pifanoi amastigotes in continuous axenic culture

摘要: Abstract Inability to culture the disease-producing amastigote form of Leishmania has greatly hampered its study. We have biochemically characterized an axenically cultured amastigote-like pifanoi . This closely resembles amastigotes in proteinase, ribonuclease, adenine deaminase and peroxidase activity. It also exhibits comparable rates growth, transformation, synthesis DNA, RNA protein, metabolism glucose linoleic acid. is distinct from promastigotes these characteristics. The expression genes for β-tubulin P100/11E reductase developmentally regulated this axenic as amastigotes. These results, combined with previous demonstrations morphology antigenicity form, confirm that been successfully propagated media. strain should serve excellent model study biochemistry, pharmacology immunology, molecular genetics transformation between promastigote forms.