African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic disease of humans and other animals. It is caused by protozoa of the species Trypanosoma brucei. There are two types that infect humans, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (TbG) and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (TbR). TbG causes over 98% of reported cases. Both are usually transmitted by the bite of an infected tsetse fly and are most common in rural areas.
Τrypanosoma equiperdum is a species of kinetoplastid parasites that causes Dourine or covering sickness in horses and other animals in the family equidae. T. equiperdum is the only trypanosome that is not spread by an insect vector. There has been substantial controversy surrounding whether T. equiperdum should be considered a unique species, or a strain of T. evansi or T. brucei. T. equiperdum is unique in that its kinetoplast, the network of connected rings that make up its mitochondrial DNA, consists of thousands of "minicircles" that are identical in sequence.
Guide RNAs are the RNAs that guide the insertion or deletion of uridine residues into mitochondrial mRNAs in kinetoplastid protists in a process known as RNA editing.
Members of the species Bodo saltans, also known by the synonym Pleuromonas jaculans, are free-living nonparasitic kinetoplastid flagellated phagotrophic protozoan that feed on bacteria. Bodo saltans cells have been reported in freshwater and marine environments. As well, an isolate of Bodo saltans is infected by the Giant Virus Bodo saltans virus, a member of the Mimiviridae.
Small nucleolar RNA TBR17 is a non-coding RNA (ncRNA) molecule identified in Trypanosoma brucei which functions in the modification of other small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs). This type of modifying RNA is usually located in the nucleolus of the eukaryotic cell which is a major site of snRNA biogenesis. It is known as a small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) and also often referred to as a guide RNA.
TBR5 is a member of the C/D class of snoRNA which contain the C (UGAUGA) and D (CUGA) box motifs. Most of the members of the box C/D family function in directing site-specific 2'-O-methylation of substrate RNAs.
Small nucleolar RNA TBR7 is a non-coding RNA (ncRNA) molecule identified in Trypanosoma brucei which functions in the modification of other small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs). This type of modifying RNA is usually located in the nucleolus of the eukaryotic cell which is a major site of snRNA biogenesis. It is known as a small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) and also often referred to as a guide RNA.
Vexilliferidae is a family of Amoebozoa, classified under Dactylopodida.
Bodonida is an order of kinetoplastid flagellate excavates. It contains the genera Bodo and Rhynchomonas, relatives to the parasitic trypanosomes. This order also contains the colonial genus Cephalothamnium.
Parasites & Vectors is a peer-reviewed open-access medical journal published by BioMed Central. The journal publishes articles on the biology of parasites, parasitic diseases, intermediate hosts, vectors and vector-borne pathogens. Parasites & Vector was established in 2008 as a merger of Filaria Journal and Kinetoplastid Biology.
Paleoleishmania is an extinct genus of kinetoplastids, a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa and at present it's placed in kinetoplastid family Trypanosomatidae. The genus contains two species, Paleoleishmania neotropicum and the type species Paleoleishmania proterus.
β-D-Glucopyranosyloxymethyluracil or base J is a hypermodified nucleobase found in the DNA of kinetoplastids including the human pathogenic trypanosomes. It was discovered in 1993, in the trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei and was the first hypermodified nucleobase found in eukaryotic DNA; it has since been found in other kinetoplastids, including Leishmania. Within these organism Base J acts as a RNA polymerase II transcription terminator, with its removal in knockout cells being accompanied by a massive read-through at RNA polymerase II termination sites, which ultimately proves lethal to the cell.
Diplonemidae is a family of biflagellated unicellular protists, potentially the most diverse and common group of planktonic organisms in the ocean. Although this family is currently made up of three named genera; Diplonema, Rhynchopus, and Hemistasia, there likely exist thousands of still unnamed genera. Organisms are generally colourless and oblong in shape, with two flagella emerging from a subapical pocket. They possess a large mitochondrial genome composed of fragmented linear DNA These non-coding sequences must be massively trans-spliced, making it one of the most complicated post-transcriptional editing process known to eukaryotes.
A cryptogene is a gene that has had its transcript edited.
GNF6702 is the name for a broad-spectrum antiprotozoal drug invented by researchers working at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in 2013, with activity against leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and sleeping sickness. These three diseases are caused by related kinetoplastid parasites, which share similar biology. GNF6702 acts as allosteric proteasome inhibitor which was effective against infection with any of the three protozoal diseases in mice, while having little evident toxicity to mammalian cells.
Klosneuvirus is a new type of giant virus found by the analysis of low-complexity metagenomes from a wastewater treatment plant in Klosterneuburg, Austria. It has a 1.57-Mb genome coding unusually high number of genes typically found in cellular organisms, including aminoacyl transfer RNA synthetases with specificities for 19 different amino acids, over 10 translation factors and several tRNA-modifying enzymes. Klosneuvirus, Indivirus, Catovirus and Hokovirus, are part of a group of giant viruses denoted as Klosneuviruses or Klosneuvirinae, a proposed subfamily of the Mimiviridae. They are related to Mimivirus.
Neoparamoeba pemaquidensis is a species of the genus Neoparamoeba.
Neobodo are diverse protists belonging to the eukaryotic supergroup Excavata. They are Kinetoplastids in the subclass Bodonidae. They are small, free-living, heterotrophic flagellates with two flagella of unequal length used to create a propulsive current for feeding.As members of Kinetoplastids, they have an evident kinetoplast There was much confusion and debate within the class Kinetoplastid and subclass Bodonidae regarding the classification of the organism, but finally the new genera Neobodo was proposed by Keith Vickerman.Although they are one of the most common flagellates found in freshwater, they are also able to tolerate saltwater Their ability to alternate between both marine and freshwater environments in many parts of the world give them a “cosmopolitan” character.Due to their relatively microscopic size ranging between 4-12 microns, they are further distinguished as heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF).This small size ratio limits them as bacterivores that swim around feeding on bacteria attached to surfaces or in aggregates.
