In situ microfluorometry of whole kinetoplast and nuclear DNA in a single cell of Trypanosoma gambiense and Trypanosoma cruzi.

In situ microfluorometry of whole kinetoplast DNA (K-DNA) and nuclear DNA (N-DNA) from a single trypomastigote cell of Trypanosoma gambiense (strain Wellcome) and Trypanosoma cruzi (strain Tulahuen) was attempted by using the microfluorometer combined with a photon counter. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1. The K-DNA value of 2K 1N (2 kinetoplasts and 1 nucleus) T. gambiense was about twofold as much as that of 1K 1N on. 2. The N-DNA value of 2K 1N T. gambiense was a little less than two times as much as that of 1K 1N T. gambiense, showing that the N-DNA had already bee increased nearly twofold before the nuclear division was initiated. 3. The K-DNA value of 1K 1N T. cruzi was about fivefold as much as that of 1K 1N T. gambiense. The N-DNA value was contrarily lower than that of T. gambiense, being approximately 70% of the latter. 4. Percent K-DNA/N-DNA value was, in average, about 7 in either 1K 1N or 2K 1N T. gambiense and about 50 in T. cruzi. 5. Percent K-DNA/N-DNA value in individual trypomastigote cell was variable, showing that the increase of K-DNA and N-DNA was not synchronized at least in the two species of trypanosomes used here. 6. The fact that K-DNA and N-DNA values varied from cell to cell although they do not divide, suggested the possibility of DNA increase in the trypomastigote of T. cruzi.