Leishmania mexicana telomeres at high resolution: Ku80, TERT, and alternative lengthening mechanisms
Our findings underscore that L. mexicana promastigotes have an inherent ability to utilize ALT, and the loss of Ku80 and/or TERT further enhanced this trait. These proteins work together to maintain telomere integrity, inhibit recombination, and stabilize telomere lengths. Our data suggest that ALT may be a fundamental and readily activated feature of Leishmania biology, and that telomere regulation in this organism significantly differs from what has been observed in other eukaryotic model species, including iconic T. brucei.
Authors
- Andreu Saura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6187-0969)
- Amanda T. S. Albanaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6348-2179)
- Ester Poláková
- Kateřina Havlová
- Vyacheslav Yurchenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4765-3263)
- Jiřı́ Fajkus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3112-1716)
- Petr Fajkus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8891-7574)
- Edubiel A. Alpizar-Sosa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0050-6365)
Institutions
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
- Central European Institute of Technology (CZ)
- University of Ostrava (CZ)
- Masaryk University (CZ)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biophysics (CZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Genomics
- Published
- 2025-10-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-12154-z
- Primary Topic
- Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- Grantová Agentura České Republiky
- Central European Institute of Technology
- Masarykova Univerzita