Ornithine decarboxylase and trypanothione reductase genes in Leishmania braziliensis guyanensis

Ornithine decarboxylase and trypanothione reductase are the key enzymes in polyamine and trypanothione metabolism in kinetoplastids. Using a heterologous Trypanosoma brucei brucei probe for ornithine decarboxylase and a mixed synthetic probe of 29 oligonucleotides for trypanothione reductase, we have detected the putative genes for these enzymes by Southern blot hybridization using genomic DNA of Leishmania braziliensis guyanensis MHOM/SR/80/CUMC 1. The trypanothione reductase probe was constructed both from the conserved codon usage of the redox active site for other flavin oxidoreductases over a wide evolutionary scale, and the preferred codon usage for other genes in species of Leishmania.