IDENTIFICATION OF TRYPANOSOMA-BRUCEI-GAMBIENSE GROUP-I BY A SPECIFIC KINETOPLAST DNA-PROBE

A set of 26 Trypanosoma brucei stocks from various African countries, previously characterized by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE) f or 18 polymorphic loci, have been selected to be representative of the three T. brucei classic subspecies. The kinetoplast DNA minicircle va riable regions from these stocks have been amplified using the polymer ase chain reaction (PCR) technique, and hybridized with the amplified variable regions of three T. brucei reference stocks, previously ident ified as T. brucei brucei, T. brucei gambiense, and T. brucei rhodesie nse, respectively. Both T. b. brucei and T. b. rhodesiense probes hybr idized only with their own stocks, but the T. b. gambiense probe speci fically hybridized with a group of 12 stocks that represented most of the human stocks from West and Central Africa in our sample. These sto cks, which appeared as a clearly separable cluster based on previous M LEE analysis, probably correspond to T. brucei gambiense group I. No o ther stock hybridized with this amplified fragment. Since the T. b. ga mbiense probe obtained is specific for many isolates that are pathogen ic for humans in Central and West Africa, it appears to be a promising tool for epidemiologic and medical surveys.