%0 Journal Article %T Gp63 gene polymorphism and population structure of Leishmania donovani complex: influence of the host selection pressure? %+ Laboratoire d'Epidémiologie et d'Ecologie parasitaire, Institut Pasteur de Tunis %+ Institute of Tropical Medicine [Antwerp] (ITM) %+ Institut Pasteur d'Algérie %+ American University of Beirut [Beyrouth] (AUB) %A Guerbouj, S. %A Victoir, K. %A Guizani, I. %A Seridi, N. %A Nuwayri-Salti, N. %A Belkaid, M. %A Ben Ismail, R. %A Le Ray, D. %A Dujardin, J.C. %Z This work received Ænancial support from the INCO-DCDGXII-program of the European Community (Contract No. IC18-CT98-0256), from the SERST-PNM96 program (Tunisia) contract No. P96BSP46 and from the Agence Universitaire de le Francophonie (AUPELF-UREF, programme PFR-PDR). %< avec comité de lecture %@ 0031-1820 %J Parasitology %I Cambridge University Press (CUP) %V 122 %N 1 %P 25-35 %8 2001 %D 2001 %R 10.1017/S0031182000007125 %M 11197761 %K polymorphism %K diagnosis %K selection %K immunogen %Z Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/ParasitologyJournal articles %X The gp63 encoding genes were characterized by PCR-RFLP in 35 isolates representative of the Leishmania donovani complex (L. infantum, L. donovani, L. archibaldi and L. chagasi), with special attention to Mediterranean L. infantum from different geographical origins, and in separate groups from Old World Leishmania (L. major, L. tropica and L. aethiopica). The aim was to evaluate how the possible selective pressure by the host on these important surface proteins would influence structuring of our sample. Comparison was carried out with the structure obtained (i) from reported isoenzyme data, characters supposed to vary neutrally, and (ii) from PCR-RFLP analysis of gp63 inter-genic regions, containing nontranslated spacers and regulatory genes. Polymorphism within the gp63-encoding region, was much higher than in gp63 inter-genic regions. In the gp63 intra-genic dendrogram, the 4 species of L. donovani complex were discriminated and quite distinct from outgroups. Within L. infantum, geographical structuring was observed and did not overlap with the structure built-up from isoenzymes and inter-genic data. These results support the idea of a strong host-selection on gp63, at vector level but most of all at vertebrate (human or dog) immunological level. Furthermore, they illustrate how the nature of genetic characters may influence the perception of population structuring. %G English %Z We are grateful to Professor M. E. Wilson, University of Iowa, USA, for kindly providing the gp63 probe of L. chagasi; Professor J. P. Dedet and Dr C. Blaineau, Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Faculte de Medecine, Montpellier, France and Dr J. Alvar, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain, who kindly provided L. donovani and French and Spanish L. infantum parasites, respectively %L pasteur-02024388 %U https://riip.hal.science/pasteur-02024388 %~ RIIP %~ RIIP_TUNIS %~ RIIP_ALGERIE