Electrophoretic Analysis of Endonuclease‐Generated Fragments of k‐DNA, of Esterase Isoenzymes, and of Surface Proteins as Aids for Species Identification of Insect Trypanosomatids1

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Abstract
To verify the applicability of biochemical methods for species identification of Trypanosomatidae, 13 spp. of monoxenic trypanosomatids plus the heteroxenous Trypanosoma cruzi were comparatively analyzed by 3 different biochemcial methods. Insect trypanosomatids examined were Crithidia acanthocephali, C. fasciculata (3 varieties), C. luciliae luciliae, C. l. thermophila, C. deanei, C. oncopelti, Herpetomonas muscarum muscarum, H. megaseliae, H. samuelpessoai, H. mariadeanei, Leptomonas seymouri, L. collosoma, L. samueli and Blastocrithidia culicis. Also included in the survey were aposymbiotic strains of C. deanei and C. oncopelti. Methods used were electrophoretic profiling of endonuclease-generated fragments of k[kinetoplastic]-DNA, esterase isoenzymes profiling and polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of radioiodinated cell surface proteins. Interspecific but not intraspecific differences were detected by all 3 methods among the 13 monoxenic specific examined. These methods can be successfully used, in addition to classical criteria, for species identification of insect trypanosomatids.