Biological Sciences, School of
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
First Advisor
John J. Janovy, Jr.
Committee Members
E. Martin, J. Brumbaugh, Brent Nickol, Ted Pardy
Date of this Version
8-1979
Document Type
Dissertation
Citation
A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Graduate College in the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
School of Life Sciences
Under the supervision of Professor John J. Janovy, Jr.
Lincoln, Nebraska, August 1979
Abstract
Summary
The study of trypanosomatid biology would benefit greatly from the acquisition of a tool for culturing such as those used in microbiology. Agar plate culture has been described several times, but until the present its potential for use in this area has been underestimated. The previous work has demonstrated that this culture method may be used to culture a wide variety of species, that these species give rise to identifiable colony phenotypes, and that these are stable regardless of the life cycle stage used to initiate the culture. It was also shown that colonies could be initiated from the reservoir host, of great importance in field diagnosis. Furthermore, the agar plate culture method has shown that it is possible to visually detect and isolate mutants. Clones of mutants may also be obtained. This forms the basis for a real beginning to a study of trypanosomatid genetics, as well as inaugurating a new approach to the diagnosis of human infections.
Advisor: John J. Janovy, Jr.
Comments
Copyright 1979, Amy Doran Keppel. Used by permission