CHEMOTAXONOMIC ANALYSIS OF 22 LEISHMANIA STRAINS ISOLATED IN NORTH-WEST ECUADOR

The cladistic analysis applied to enzymatic proteins completes the tax onomy of leishmania from Ecuador. The 22 strains isolated are distribu ted into ten zymodemes. Only one of these belongs to the phylogenetic complex L. mexicana : it is an original variant form, distantly relate d to the WHO reference strain. The nine other zymodemes are grouped in the phylogenetic complex L. guyanensis, but form three distinct branc hes. The first one is centered on the reference strain of L. guyanensi s. The second one includes the reference strain of L. panamensis. The third one is represented by a single zymodeme and is placed in on inte rmediate position between the two others, owing to a ''heterozygous'' aspect of the phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PGD).