Abstract:
Two cases of skin lesions similar to those caused by Leishmania parasites have been reported from Martinique. Parasites
isolated from these lesions were unlike Leishmania reference strains by isoenzyme analysis and electron microscopy and
were assumed to be monoxenous trypanosomatids which normally only infect invertebrates. Both strains have now been
retyped by isoenzyme analysis and found to be identical to each other and distantly related to all other Leishmania species.
The sequence of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene and partial sequences of the DNA polymerase alpha and RNA polymerase
II largest sub unit genes were obtained. These sequences indicated that the Martinique parasites clustered with L. enriettii
and were basal to all other euleishmania. However, support for both the position basal to all euleishmania and the clustering
with L. enriettii was low. The Martinique parasites may cluster with L. (Leishmania) or L. (Viannia) or form a novel clade
within the euleishmania either with or without L. enriettii.
