Resolving the polycistronic aftermath: Essential role of topoisomerase IA in preventing R-loops in Leishmania.

Kinetoplastid parasites are "living bridges" in the evolution from prokaryotes to higher eukaryotes. The near-intronless genome of the kinetoplastid Leishmania exhibits polycistronic transcription which can facilitate R-loop formation. Therefore, to prevent such DNA-RNA hybrids, Leishmania has retained prokaryotic-like DNA Topoisomerase IA (LdTOPIA) in the course of evolution.

Diagnosis of symptomatic kala-azar by polymerase chain reaction using patient's blood.

Background: Detection of Leishmania parasite in patients by classical methods at the early stage of infection is limited. Several studies have shown that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is more effective for the diagnosis of visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) in clinical samples. The purpose of this study was to develop a simple, specific and sensitive PCR-based assay for detecting VL caused by any species of the genus Leishmania.