Hidden life cycle stages of the trypanosomatid Blastocrithidia triatomae Cerisola et al. 1971 (Protista: Excavata: Kinetoplastea) unveiled by a new cultivation method.

Blastocrithidia triatomae is a monoxenic trypanosomatid parasite of triatomines, sharing the same insect vectors with Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas, 1909 and T. rangeli Tejera, 1920. It is known to cause a complex syndrome in insects which induces severe metabolic disorders and increasing in mortality rates.

Near infrared spectroscopy accurately detects Trypanosoma cruzi non-destructively in midguts, rectum and excreta samples of Triatoma infestans.

Chagas disease is a neglected tropical disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi parasite with an estimated 70 million people at risk. Traditionally, parasite presence in triatomine vectors is detected through optical microscopy which can be low in sensitivity or molecular techniques which can be costly in endemic countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of a reagent-free technique, the Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) for rapid and non-invasive detection of T.

Evaluating the role of morphological characters in the phylogeny of some trypanosomatid genera (Excavata, Kinetoplastea, Trypanosomatida).

Over the last three decades, it has been progressively assumed that morphology has become obsolete for trypanosomatid systematics. Traditional taxonomy, based on the occurrence of specific kinds of cell morphotypes during life cycles and the morphometry of such cells, is often rejected by molecular phylogenies inferred mostly from 18S rDNA alone or combined with GAPDH. In such context, we hypothesized the affinities of 35 representatives of seven trypanosomatid genera from separated and combined cladistics analyses of morphological and 18S matrices.