LEPTOMONAS-SEYMOURI AS A MODEL SYSTEM FOR THE ANALYSIS OF GENE-EXPRESSION IN TRYPANOSOMATIDS

Leptomonas seymouri, a monogenetic trypanosomatid originally isolated from Dysdercus suturellus (Hemiptera), was used to develop a reverse g enetic system for trypanosomatid flagellates. In many eukaryotic cell types, reverse genetics has proven to be a powerful tool for defining structure/function relationships within genes. The mini-exon genes of trypanosomatids encode key components of all cellular mRNAs. This comp onent is a 5' ''leader'' RNA that is spliced onto all mRNA precursors during mRNA formation within the cell nucleus. The data presented here indicate that structure/function relationships within the mini-exon g ene can be probed using the molecular genetic system developed and cha racterized for L. seymouri.