KINETOPLAST DNA MINICIRCLE BINDING-PROTEINS IN A LEISHMANIA SPP - INTERFERENCE OF PROTEIN-DNA INTERACTION BY BERENIL

A kinetoplast DNA minicircle of a Leishmania Spp. binds to several pro teins of the kinetoplast. Lysates of kinetoplasts of Leishmania grown in the presence of berenil show complete disappearance of some of thes e protein bands, while the rest of the proteins present appear as much less intense bands in South Western blots when probed with either the conserved or variable regions of the minicircle or whole minicircle D NA. The conserved region of minicircle DNA complexed with berenil in v itro also fails to interact with the DNA binding proteins of kinetopla st of untreated cell in South Western blots. Since berenil induces dys kinetoplasty of kinetoplastidae, the results indicate that interferenc e of protein-DNA interaction in the presence of berenil may be the pri mary event in making organisms dyskinetoplastic.