Genetic diversity of Leishmania donovani causing visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Western Ghats, India

Abstract

The visceral and atypical cutaneous leishmaniasis (VL and CL) caused by Leishmania donovani is an emerging infectious disease in the Western Ghats, Kerala, India. In this study, L. donovani specific kinetoplast minicircle DNA (k-DNA) sequence analysis was conducted to ascertain the genetic variability among the L. donovani isolates from the Western Ghats. Out of 23 CL and 5 VL suspected patient samples, 18 CL and 3 VL tested positive for k-DNA diagnostic PCR. Subsequently, 17 CL and 3 VL samples were found positive for L. donovani specific k-DNA PCR. Although the genetic diversity among the VL and CL isolates was low, there was clear variation from the parasites reported from other countries. The parasites characterized from the current study were more related to those reported from East Africa and India.

Keywords: Kerala; Leishmaniasis; Phylogenetic analysis; Species-specific PCR; k-DNA.