caa a22 4500 386399522 CHVBK 20180307112153.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e198902 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0031182000059631 doi S0031182000059631 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0031182000059631 Biochemical characteristics of the metacyclic forms of Leishmania major and L. mexicana mexicana [Elektronische Daten] Metacyclic forms of Leishmania major and putative metacyclics of L. mexicana mexicana were found to occur in abundance in stationary phase cultures. These forms have been compared in several ways with promastigotes from mid-log phase cultures and, in the case of L. m. mexicana, amastigotes. Metacyclics are smaller, contain less protein and appear more active than other promastigotes. Both forms of promastigote respire at a high rate in the absence of exogenous substrate. The free amino-acid contents of the various forms of the two species have been analysed. They differ in detail but alanine was the major amino acid in all cases. The isoenzyme content of the different forms differed significantly. That of the putative metacyclics of L. m. mexicana was in several respects more similar to amastigotes than promastigotes, suggesting that the form is pre-adapted for life in a mammal. Metacyclics of L. major apparently did not divide in culture but transformed back over a period of 48 h to mid-log phase cells. The results provide further detail of the molecular differences between mid-log phase and metacyclic promastigotes and confirm that metacyclics are a distinct form in the life-cycle. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989 metacyclics nationallicence leishmania nationallicence isoenzymes nationallicence Mallinson D. J. Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland Coombs G. H. Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland Parasitology Cambridge University Press 98/1(1989-02), 7-15 0031-1820 98:1<7 1989 98 PAR https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182000059631 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182000059631 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Mallinson D. J. Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Coombs G. H. Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Parasitology Cambridge University Press 98/1(1989-02), 7-15 0031-1820 98:1<7 1989 98 PAR CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge