Figure 1.

Genomic and kDNA inheritance in trypanosomatids: (A) Models representing two possible sexual reproduction strategies in trypanosomatids that allow mixture of parental genotypes in daughter cells: (A-1) A parasexual process in which two aneuploid parental cells (approximately 2n) are fused to give rise to a transient aneuploidy genotype (approximately 4n), which further reduces its chromosomal burden in an asymmetric way to produce aneuploid daughter cells (approximately 2n). (A-2) Meiotic process, in which the hypothetical putative distribution of parental chromosomes is represented in daughter cells. Cells are represented with 4 pairs of chromosomes and reflect the mosaic aneuploidy that is frequent in the trypanosomatid Leishmania. A classical image of chromosomes is depicted in the figure, despite the fact that the genetic material does not condense during the life cycle of trypanosomatids. Chromosomal recombination between homologous chromosomes is not represented in the figure; (B) model representing the result of kDNA inheritance. It can be biparental in maxicircles and minicircles, but after some clonal divisions, maxicircles, unlike minicircles, only maintain one parental genotype.