TRYPANOSOMA

'''Trypanosoma''' are of the class kinetoplastida, a monophyletic^[1] group of unicellular parasitic protozoa. The name is derived from the Greek ''trypaô'' (boring) and ''soma'' (body) because of their corkscrew-like motion. Trypanosomes infect a variety of hosts and cause the fatal disease sleeping sickness in humans.
Trypanosoma undergo a complex lifecycle which includes several different morphological forms. For example, ''Trypanosoma brucei'' is transmitted between mammalian hosts through a tsetse fly vector and undergoes a series of morphological and metabolic changes to adapt to these very different environments. In contrast, ''T. equiperdum'' are sexually transmitted between horses and have no insect part of the lifecycle.
Characteristic of this order is the mitochondrial genome, known as the kinetoplast. This is made up of a highly complex series of catenatated circles and minicircles and require a cohort of proteins for organisation during cell division.
Trypanosomes have a number of biologically interesting features that has made them the object of study. For example, Trypanosomes do their genetic regulation post-transcriptionally, are a classic model of antigenic variation, and edit their mitochondrial mRNA transcripts using short guide RNAs encoded in mitochondrial minicircles as templates. In addition, two life cycle forms of ''Trypanosoma brucei'' are easy to culture and are genetically pliable.
Species of ''Trypanosoma'' include the following:

★ ''T. avium'', which causes trypanosomiasis in birds

★ ''T. boissoni'', in elasmobranch

★ ''T. brucei'', which causes sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle

★ ''T. carassii'', in freshwater teleosts

★ ''T. cruzi'', which causes Chagas disease in humans

★ ''T. congolense'', which causes nagana in cattle, horses, and camels

★ ''Trypanosoma equinum'' Voges 1901, Horses infected by Tabanidae, South America

★ ''T. equiperdum'', which causes dourine or Covering sickness in horses and other Equidae

★ ''T. evansi'', which causes one form of the disease surra in certain animals (single case report of human infection in 2005 in India^[2] and was successfully treated with suramin.^[3])

★ ''Trypanosoma levisi'', in rats

★ ''Trypanosoma melophagium'' Sheep infected by ''Melophagus ovinus''

★ ''Trypanosoma percae'' in fish: ''Perca fluviatilis''

★ ''Trypanosoma rangeli'', believed to be nonpathogenic to humans

★ ''T. rotatorium'' in amphibian,

★ ''T. simiae'', which causes nagana in animals

★ ''T. suis'', which causes a different form of surra

★ ''T. theileri'', a large trypanosome infecting ruminants

★ ''T. triglae'' in marine teleosts

★ ''T. vivax'', which causes the disease nagana

Contents

References

References

1. Trypanosomes are monophyletic: evidence from genes for glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase and small subunit ribosomal RNA., Hamilton, PB, , , Int J Parasitol, 2004
2. A new form of human trypanosomiasis in India. Description of the first human case in the world caused by ''Trypanosoma evansi'', World Health Organization., , , Wkly Epidemiol Rec, 2005

3. Treatment and follow-up of the first case of human trypanosomiasis caused by ''Trypanosoma evansi'' in India, Joshi PP, Chaudhari A, Shegokar VR, ''et al.'', , , Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg, 2006

:''Report on Trypanosomes'', Thomas, (London, 1905)
:''Tropical diseases'', Sir Patrick Manson, (fifth edition, London, 1914)
:''Tropical Medicine and Hygiene'', C. W. Daniels, (New York, 1914)
:''The Trypanosomiases'', Edited by Ian Maudlin, Peter H Holmes, Michael A Miles (CAB International, 2004, ISBN 0-85199-475-X)