PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ANURAN TRYPANOSOMES AS REVEALED BY RIBOPRINTING

Twenty trypanosome isolates from Anura (frogs and toads) assigned to s everal species were characterized by riboprinting-restriction enzyme d igestion of polymerase chain reaction amplified small subunit ribosoma l RNA genes. Restriction site polymorphisms allowed distinction of all the recognized species and no intraspecific variation in riboprint pa tterns was detected. Phylogenetic reconstruction using parsimony and d istance estimates based on restriction fragment comigration showed Try panosoma chattoni to be only distantly related to the other species, w hile T. ranarum and T. fallisi appear to be sister taxa despite showin g non-overlapping host specificities.