Project

Leishmania (L.) parasites are obligate intracellular pathogens that affect millions of people worldwide. Human cutaneous leishmaniasis (HCL) is the most common form of the disease worldwide and represents a serious public health problem. In Tunisia, three forms of LCH coexist: i) the so-called “zoonotic” HCL caused by L. major, ii) the chronic form of the disease caused by L. killicki (syn. L. tropica), and iii) the sporadic form of LCH caused by L. infantum.

L. major and L. infantum forms of LCH have a relatively fast incubation and healing period, while the L. killicki (syn. L. tropica) form occurs as very inflamed nodules and erythematous plaques, healing in about one to two years.

Although HCL is a relatively well-characterized disease, studies aiming at deciphering at the genomic level, determinants that could explain the wide range of clinical expressions of the infections caused by the different parasite species, constitute a still poorly explored field of investigation.

This project aims to perform a de novo sequencing of Leishmania parasites HCL clinical isolates obtained from Tunisian patients lesions, relying on the power of the cutting-edge generation of high throughput de novo sequencing techniques to decipher the peculiarities of these genomes.