SHORT COMMUNICATION Identification of a Differentially Expressed mRNA in Axenic

Differential display technique was applied in order to identify transcripts which are present in axenic amastigotes but not in promastigotes of the Leishmania panamensis parasites. One of them was cloned and the sequence reveals an open reading frame of 364 amino acids (aprox. 40 kDa). The deduced protein is homologous to the serine/threonine protein kinases and specially to the mitogen activates protein kinases from eukaryotic species. Southern blot analysis suggest that this transcript, named lpmkh, is present in the genome of the parasite as a single copy gene. These results could imply that lpmkh could be involved in the differentiation process or the preservation of amastigotes in axenic conditions. Key words: differential display- axenic amastigotes- Leishmania panamensis- mitogen activated protein kinase Leishmania parasites are the etiologic agents of leishmaniasis, a spectrum of diseases ranging from the self-healing cutaneous to the non-healing visceral form. These parasites are digenetic organ-isms, which replicate as extracellular flagellated promastigotes in the sand fly’s midgut and as in-tracellular aflagellate amastigotes in the vertebrat