Abstract

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania tropica is one of the most important health issues in Syria which exacerbated after the war in Syria. Reduction of the high prevalence of Leishmaniasis in Syria requires the availability of an effective vaccine. DNA vaccine has recently provided a promising new approach. Nucleosomal core histones are very important for the parasite’s life, their genes showed a protective effect as DNA vaccines against infections by many species of Leishmania. The existence of these genes, like H2A gene, was not proved in L. tropica. Our study aimed to investigate the existence of H2A gene in a Syrian strain of L. tropica promastigotes and their expression. We isolated DNA and RNA from these parasites, synthesized cDNA, designed the necessary primers for gene`s amplification, and standardized the PCR conditions. This is the first study that proved the existence of this gene in a Syrian strain of L. tropica promastigotes. The sequence of the cDNA H2A gene was defined and published in Gene bank, its size was 399bp. Expression was also proved at the level of cDNA.

Keywords: Leishmania tropica; H2A gene; Syria

Abbreviations: cDNA: Complementary Deoxy Ribonucleic Acid; DNA: Deoxy Ribonucleic Acid; RNA: Ribonucleic Acid; L.: Leishmania