Project

Trypanosoma cruzi is heterogeneous in nature and differences of as much as 1 log have been observed in the nuclear DNA content of different isolates of the parasite. Recent work resulted in the organization of T.cruzi in six groups organized according to their biological characteristics and organization of some marker genes. The first T.cruzi isolate to be sequenced (CL-Brener) is indeed a hybrid between Groups I and II, rendering difficult the definition of a pattern for a given group. The sequencing of the genome of T.cruzi Dm28c, a prototype of Group I parasites (with a cell cycle predominantly silvatic).

The Dm28c clone is biologically well-characterized and is the model system for researchers from different fields (cell biology, immunology, molecular biology, biochemistry, systems biology, etc) and presents a rather small and compact genome.