Diversity, phylogenetic, and population genetic studies of the genus Leishmania, causative
agent of leishmaniasis, nowadays generally involve multilocus microsatellite and multilocus
sequence typing. Even though these are well established and useful applications, amplified
fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) can provide complementary information. In addition,
as the technique essentially probes the entire genome at random, without prior sequence
knowledge, it is ideally suited as a screening tool for molecular markers linked with
biological and clinical traits. We developed an AFLP protocol adapted to the Leishmania
genome, tested its repeatability, and validated it on a panel of samples from the
Leishmania donovani complex previously analyzed by multiple molecular tests. The technique
proved highly reproducible, and showed that genetic relationships between L. donovani
strains generally reflect geographic distance. Four main groups were identified: Leishmania
infantum, African L. donovani, Indian L. donovani, and a mixed group consisting of
L. donovani from India and Africa. Results were highly congruent with previous analyses
on essentially the same sample set, indicating that the developed assay produces trustworthy
data. This opens possibilities for application in studies of speciation and population
dynamics. Moreover, it allows random screening of the entire Leishmania genome for
linkage with biological and clinical parasite properties, such as fitness, drug resistance,
and disease profile.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.