PMID- 20964798
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20110414
LR  - 20110113
IS  - 1462-5822 (Electronic)
IS  - 1462-5814 (Linking)
VI  - 13
IP  - 2
DP  - 2011 Feb
TI  - FISH analysis reveals aneuploidy and continual generation of chromosomal 
      mosaicism in Leishmania major.
PG  - 274-83
LID - 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2010.01534.x [doi]
AB  - The protozoan parasite Leishmania is generally considered to be diploid, although 
      a few chromosomes have been described as aneuploid. Using fluorescence in situ 
      hybridization (FISH), we determined the number of homologous chromosomes per 
      individual cell in L. major (i) during interphase and (ii) during mitosis. We 
      show that, in Leishmania, aneuploidy appears to be the rule, as it affects all 
      the chromosomes that we studied. Moreover, every chromosome was observed in at 
      least two ploidy states, among monosomic, disomic or trisomic, in the cell 
      population. This variable chromosomal ploidy among individual cells generates 
      intra-strain heterogeneity, here precisely chromosomal mosaicism. We also show 
      that this mosaicism, hence chromosome ploidy distribution, is variable among 
      clones and strains. Finally, when we examined dividing nuclei, we found a 
      surprisingly high rate of asymmetric chromosome allotments, showing that the 
      transmission of genetic material during mitosis is highly unstable in this 
      'divergent' eukaryote: this leads to continual generation of chromosomal 
      mosaicism. Using these results, we propose a model for the occurrence and 
      persistence of this mosaicism. We discuss the implications of this additional 
      unique feature of Leishmania for its biology and genetics, in particular as a 
      novel genetic mechanism to generate phenotypic variability from genomic 
      plasticity.
CI  - (c) 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
FAU - Sterkers, Yvon
AU  - Sterkers Y
AD  - Universite Montpellier 1, UFR Medecine, Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, 
      Montpellier, France.
FAU - Lachaud, Laurence
AU  - Lachaud L
FAU - Crobu, Lucien
AU  - Crobu L
FAU - Bastien, Patrick
AU  - Bastien P
FAU - Pages, Michel
AU  - Pages M
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20101021
PL  - India
TA  - Cell Microbiol
JT  - Cellular microbiology
JID - 100883691
SB  - IM
MH  - *Aneuploidy
MH  - *Chromosome Aberrations
MH  - Chromosome Segregation
MH  - In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
MH  - Leishmania major/*cytology/*genetics/growth & development
MH  - Mitosis
MH  - Parasitology/methods
EDAT- 2010/10/23 06:00
MHDA- 2011/04/16 06:00
CRDT- 2010/10/23 06:00
PHST- 2010/10/23 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2010/10/23 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2011/04/16 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2010.01534.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Cell Microbiol. 2011 Feb;13(2):274-83. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2010.01534.x. 
      Epub 2010 Oct 21.