Most of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases occur in only 7 countries, including Iran. Leishmania tropica is the
main cause of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran. In order to study the heterogeneity and
phylogeny of L. tropica in southern Iran, a total of 61 isolates were obtained from Bam district and the
cities Kerman and Shiraz. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) from the ribosomal DNA locus was
amplified and then analysed by sequencing. Analysis of the ITS sequences showed four haplotypes in
the isolates, including 3 haplotypes among the 58 isolates from the south eastern region, including
Bam district and Kerman city, and 2 haplotypes among the 3 isolates from Shiraz city. The results showed
a monophyletic structure for the south eastern population. In comparison to GenBank sequences of
L. tropica from different countries, most of the southeast Iranian and Indian isolates are comprised in
one cluster, while isolates from other countries and few other Iranian isolates group in a different cluster.
Analysis of ITS sequences of south eastern L. tropica showed a homogeneous population which could be
the basis for other molecular epidemiology studies using more discriminative markers and tracing
possible changes in the population structure of L. tropica.
کلید واژگان :
Leishmania tropica ITS Heterogeneity Sequence analysis Iran
