Further enzyme polymorphism in Trypanosoma cruzi from Colombia.

The electrophoretic behavior of eleven soluble enzymes from three Colombian stocks of Trypanosoma cruzi was compared with representative stocks of three reference Brazilian zymodemes. Although separated by geographical barriers, the Colombian stocks showed the same isoenzyme profiles in 7 and 8 out of the eleven enzymes analyzed as the Brazilian reference zymodemes. The genetic distance separating the Colombian from the Brazilian zymodemes ranged from 0.25 to 0.46. However, even for this small sample, six new enzyme patterns and new combinations in enzyme profile were found. The existence of new zymodemes is indicated and a wider variation in T. cruzi isoenzyme types is demonstrated.