Bates, P A (1993) Characterization of developmentally-regulated nucleases in promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 107 (1). pp. 53-58. ISSN 0378-1097
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The parasitic protozoon Leishmania mexicana was examined for the presence of 3'-nucleotidase/nuclease using substrate SDS-PAGE. Two activities were detected: one with an apparent molecular mass of 40 kDa, and a doublet of 29/31 kDa. The two enzymes showed differences in their levels of expression in the two life-cycle stages of parasite examined: the 29/31 kDa doublet was detected at 60-fold higher levels in the pathogenic amastigote stage, but was also expressed by promastigotes, whereas the 40 kDa activity was only detected in promastigotes. Both were capable of hydrolysing a variety of substrates including 3'-AMP and poly(A). However, the 29/31 kDa form showed a broader, unique substrate specificity in that it was also capable of digesting double-stranded RNA and DNA.