Trypanosoma

genus of Kinetoplastea

Trypanosoma is a genus of parasitic protozoa. There are in the class Kinetoplastida. They are a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa.[1] All trypanosomes are need more than one particular host to complete life cycle.

Trypanosoma
Trypanosoma sp. among red blood cells.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Phylum: Euglenozoa
Class: Kinetoplastea
Order: Trypanosomatida
Family: Trypanosomatidae
Genus: Trypanosoma
Gruby, 1843
Subgenera
Synonyms
  • Castellanella Chalmers 1918 non Pacheco & Rodrigues 1930
  • Duttonella Chalmers 1918
  • Haematomonas Mitrophanow 1883
  • Schizotrypanum Chagas 1909
  • Trypanozoon Lühe 1906

Most are transmitted by a vector, usually by blood-feeding invertebrates. There are different mechanisms among the various species. In an invertebrate host they are generally found in the intestine, but in their mammalian host they usually live in the bloodstream or inside cells.

Trypanosomes infect a variety of hosts and cause various diseases, including the fatal human diseases sleeping sickness, caused by Trypanosoma brucei, and Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi.

The mitochondrial genome of the Trypanosoma,[2] and other kinetoplastids, is made of a highly complex series of circles and minicircles. It needs many proteins for organisation during cell division.

References

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  1. Hamilton P.B.; et al. (2004). "Trypanosomes are monophyletic: evidence from genes for glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase and small subunit ribosomal RNA". Int. J. Parasitol. 34 (12): 1393–404. doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2004.08.011. PMID 15542100.
  2. known as the 'kinetoplast'