Kinetoplastid cell biology and genetics, from the 2020 British Society for Parasitology Trypanosomiasis and Leishmaniasis symposium, Granada, Spain.

Derrick R. Robinson,Pegine B. Walrad,Miguel Navarro,Mark. C. Field

doi:10.1017/s0031182021000998

Abstract

The British Society for Parasitology (BSP) holds a biannual symposium devoted to the kinetoplastids, and seeks to cover the full gamut of research into these important organisms, and alternates with the Woods Hole Kinetoplastid Molecular Cell Biology meeting that serves a similar community. While normally embedded within the main BSP Spring meeting, on several occasions the symposium has enjoyed the opportunity of being hosted on mainland Europe. In 2020, the BSP was fortunate to spend some time in Granada in Spain, where a superb meeting with excellent science in a spectacular setting was overshadowed by news of an emerging novel coronavirus. In this editorial, we hope to have captured some of that excellent science and to highlight aspects of the many great papers and reviews in this special issue, as well as provide a few images from the meeting, which we hope for this who attended will bring back some fond memories.

Highlights

The British Society for Parasitology (BSP) Trypanosomiasis and Leishmaniasis Symposium; Advances in Basic and Applied Research held in Granada, Spain was unexpectedly both the sole BSP meeting of 2020 and the last time many of us have seen each other in person
The breaking coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic prevented many from our community attending due to the real and rapidly growing health risk
The dyskinetoplastic species T. evansi and T. equiperdum are only viable as blood stage forms (BSF) and cannot develop in an insect vector, most likely because ATP production in insects requires oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial encoded genes

Summary

Introduction

The British Society for Parasitology (BSP) Trypanosomiasis and Leishmaniasis Symposium; Advances in Basic and Applied Research held in Granada, Spain was unexpectedly both the sole BSP meeting of 2020 and the last time many of us have seen each other in person. John Ellis and his collaborators used phylogenetic analysis to show that the clade containing T. cyclops and a newly identified trypanosome from terrestrial leeches located around Sydney, in New South Wales, are very closely related, suggesting that they may be of the same species. TbAQP2 has been implicated in drug resistance in African trypanosomes and was identified by novel molecular approaches.

Results

Conclusion