Plasticity of the Leishmania genome leading to gene copy number variations and drug resistance [version 1; referees: 5 approved]

Abstract

Leishmania has a plastic genome, and drug pressure can select for gene copy number variation (CNV). CNVs can apply either to whole chromosomes, leading to aneuploidy, or to specific genomic regions. For the latter, the amplification of chromosomal regions occurs at the level of homologous direct or inverted repeated sequences leading to extrachromosomal circular or linear amplified DNAs. This ability of Leishmania to respond to drug pressure by CNVs has led to the development of genomic screens such as Cos-Seq, which has the potential of expediting the discovery of drug targets for novel promising drug candidates.

Keywords

• Bioinformatics
• Cell Growth & Division
• Cell Signaling
• Cellular Death & Stress Responses
• Evolutionary/Comparative Genetics
• Genomics
• Medical Microbiology
• Microbial Evolution & Genomics
• Nuclear Structure & Function
• Parasitology