Effect of bacterial association on the phenotype and genotype of an Entamoeba histolytica clonal population.

A several-times-cloned population of Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites (clone MAVIII) was cultured under axenic (MAVIIIax), monoxenic (MAVIIImx) and polyxenic (MAVIIIpx) conditions. Clones MAVIIIax and MAVIIImx presented similar virulence in vitro, but differed in their virulence in vivo, whereas MAVIIIpx trophozoites were neither virulent in vitro or in vivo. The MAVIII clones maintained their zymodeme and exhibited three unusual glucose phosphate isomerase bands, absent in other E. histolytica strains studied. Similar patterns were shown by the three MAVIII clones in the signature of a 482-bp DNA fragment from the M17 gene (which encodes for a variable immunodominant antigen), obtained by low stringency single specific primer PCR technique. However, MAVIII clones displayed genotypic variability in the patterns obtained by the random amplified polymorphic DNA technique using total DNA as template. Results suggest that monomorphism is kept in certain regions of the genome, mainly in those carrying protein encoding genes, but a high polymorphism is present in total DNA of cloned trophozoites cultured under different conditions, confirming the plasticity of the E. histolytica genome.