Background Leishmania (Leishmania) aethiopica and L. (L.) tropica cause
cutaneous leishmaniases and appear to be related. L. aethiopica is
geographically restricted to Ethiopia and Kenya; L. tropica is widely
dispersed from the Eastern Mediterranean, through the Middle East into eastern
India and in north, east and south Africa. Their phylogenetic inter-
relationship is only partially revealed. Some studies indicate a close
relationship. Here, eight strains of L. aethiopica were characterized
genetically and compared with 156 strains of L. tropica from most of the
latter species' geographical range to discern the closeness.
Methodology/Principal Findings Twelve unlinked microsatellite markers
previously used to genotype strains of L. tropica were successfully applied to
the eight strains of L. aethiopica and their microsatellite profiles were
compared to those of 156 strains of L. tropica from various geographical
locations that were isolated from human cases of cutaneous and visceral
leishmaniasis, hyraxes and sand fly vectors. All the microsatellite profiles
were subjected to various analytical algorithms: Bayesian statistics,
distance-based and factorial correspondence analysis, revealing: (i) the
species L. aethiopica, though geographically restricted, is genetically very
heterogeneous; (ii) the strains of L. aethiopica formed a distinct genetic
cluster; and (iii) strains of L. aethiopica are closely related to strains of
L. tropica and more so to the African ones, although, by factorial
correspondence analysis, clearly separate from them. Conclusions/Significance
The successful application of the 12 microsatellite markers, originally
considered species-specific for the species L. tropica, to strains of L.
aethiopica confirmed the close relationship between these two species. The
Bayesian and distance-based methods clustered the strains of L. aethiopica
among African strains of L. tropica, while the factorial correspondence
analysis indicated a clear separation between the two species. There was no
correlation between microsatellite profiles of the eight strains of L.
aethiopica and the type of leishmaniasis, localized (LCL) versus diffuse
cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL), displayed by the human cases