BRUSSELS ugg suomi, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- An international team of scientists said Monday they have discovered parasites scourging the developing world bear plant-like genes acquired from algae. The new findings suggest herbicides could kill parasites infecting "people suffering from sleeping sickness in Africa, Chagas disease in South America and leishmaniasis in most tropical areas of the world," researcher Fred Opperdoes ugg boots suomi, a biochemist at the Christian de Duve Institute of Cellular Pathology, told United Press International. Protozoa known as trypanosomatids endanger the health of nearly 500 million people worldwide. African sleeping sickness causes extreme weakness, deep coma and often is fatal, while Chagas disease kills many young children and leishmaniasis causes disfiguring scars. "Currently the existing drugs against African sleeping sickness, South American Chagas disease and leishmaniasis are inadequate, toxic or completely lacking," said molecular parasitologist Larry Simpson of the University of California, Los Angeles. "New drugs are desperately needed to combat these diseases, which are major causes of mortality and morbidity in many underdeveloped countries." Over the years, Opperdoes and colleagues discovered a number of plant-like traits in these ancient parasites. "The evidence for a relationship to algae was scattered here and there in the literature, but no one really took it seriously," Simpson explained. Given that the genetic codes of two of these parasite species are now available for analysis, Opperdoes' team in Belgium and Brazil probed them for more firm evidence of plant-like traits. In findings appearing online Jan. 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the investigators found these protozoa have a considerable number of plant-like genes. Although the protozoa are incapable of photosynthesis ugg saappaat, some of the genes the investigators uncovered resemble those linked to photosynthesis in plants and algae. Proteins made by these genes also are located inside cellular machinery that glean energy from sugar. "This is the kind of important general insight that in hindsight seems almost obvious, but which I and others wish we had realized previously," Simpson said. The researchers theorize algae once lived inside the ancestors of these parasites symbiotically "one to one-and-one-half billion years ago," Opperdoes said, and although the algae disappeared as the protozoa evolved, they left behind genetic keys to their host's survival. The ancestral parasites might have absorbed a few plant-like genes at random from bacteria they ate, but "the presence of so many plant-like genes suggest that there was a specific event rather than many random acquisitions," Opperdoes added. The finding "should have very important implications for the development of chemotherapeutic drugs against these parasites," Simpson said. For instance, the malaria parasite acquired key cellular machinery from a parasite, a discovery Simpson explained has led to new drugs against the infection. The complete genetic codes of the species should be available within one year for further anti-parasite drug research, Opperdoes said. -- (Reported by Charles Choi, UPI Science News, in New York)Topics related articles：

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