Genetics of Leishmania

Dear Colleagues

Genes is announcing a Special Issue on “Genetics of Leishmania” for 2019, which will be open for studies on different aspects of genomics, genetics, and gene research in Leishmania parasites.

Reference genomes have been published for many Leishmania species and are available on the kinetoplastid genome database, TriTrypDB, together with unpublished assemblies for other species and strains. Although consistent, high-quality automated annotation is now possible, manual inspection and improvement of annotation is still critical. Genome-wide approaches have, so far, proved their potential for improving Leishmania taxonomy and exploring the origin of the genus, and for studying the microevolution of leishmanial populations. A comparison of different leishmanial genomes revealed a remarkable conservation of gene content and synteny in orthologous chromosomes and confirmed the significance of variable aneuploidy in these parasites, which seems to be adaptive and to depend on their life stage. Exploring the extent of genomic diversity in species and strains of Leishmania in comparison with phenotypic variations will help one to better understand the interplay between parasites, vectors, and hosts, and for developing effective drug and immunotherapeutic interventions.

We invite publications from scientists using genomic or genetic smaller-scale genetic approaches, including bioinformatics, to detect variations in coding or non-coding regions of leishmanial genomes. We are also interested in studies investigating the relations between genotypic and phenotypic diversity. Finally, we encourage the publication of population genetic, phylogenomic, and phylogenetic studies for Leishmania.

Dr. Gabriele Schönian
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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