The outcome of Leishmania infection depends on the parasite species and the host immune response. Virulence factors have been extensively studied over the years in an effort to find efficient vaccines and/or treatments for Leishmania infection. Arginase activity in Leishmania has been described as an essential player for the polyamines pathway, impacting parasite replication and infectivity. Considering previous studies showing that the absence of arginase activity leads to low infectivity of Leishmania amazonensis, we reanalyzed transcriptomic data comparing both promastigotes and axenic amastigotes from L. amazonensis wild type (La-WT) and L. amazonensis arginase knockout (La-arg⁻) backgrounds. The analysis produced a new compilation of modulated transcripts that indicated the role of arginase not only in the polyamines pathway but also in the modulation of virulence factors involved in parasite recognition, growth and differentiation.

利什曼原虫感染的结果取决于寄生虫种类和宿主的免疫反应。多年来，已经广泛研究了毒力因子，以寻找用于利什曼原虫感染的有效疫苗和/或治疗方法。利什曼原虫中的精氨酸酶活性已被描述为多胺途径的必不可少的参与者，会影响寄生虫的复制和传染性。考虑到以前的研究显示，由于缺乏精氨酸酶活动导致的低感染的利什曼原虫亚马孙，我们重新分析转录数据从比较两个前鞭毛体和无鞭毛体无菌L.亚马孙野生型（拉-WT）和亚马逊利什曼原虫精氨酸酶基因敲除（拉-精^- ）背景。分析产生了新的调制转录本汇编，表明精氨酸酶不仅在多胺途径中发挥作用，而且还在寄生虫识别，生长和分化所涉及的毒力因子的调节中发挥作用。