Single-cell transcriptomics reveals life cycle and cell cycle gene expression dynamics during in vitro growth of two Leishmania species
- 1Newcastle University
Abstract
Leishmania species are transmitted between mammals by sand flies, within which they undergo a complex developmental programme involving transitions between replicative and non-replicative life cycle forms. Recent work using single-cell transcriptomics has revealed the developmental pathways of Leishmania major in the sand fly, but it is unclear how faithfully such development is recapitulated during Leishmania culture in vitro. In addition, no work has revealed how gene expression changes across the cell cycle of replicative Leishmania forms. Using single-cell transcriptomics on unsynchronised cultures of L. major and L. mexicana, we addressed both questions. We show that in vitro L. mexicana promastigotes display the same two developmental endpoints seen in L. major cells recovered from sand flies, metacyclics and haptomonads. In contrast, L. major promastigote development in vitro does not predict the presence of leptomonads or haptomonads, although non-dividing late metacyclics form through an early metacyclic stage as parasites enter stationary phase. Using computational reconstruction of the cell cycle in procyclic promastigote forms of both Leishmania species identified hundreds of genes whose transcript levels vary as the cell cycle progresses, revealing core conserved processes between the two species and with the closely related Trypanosoma brucei. These genes allowed us to examine connections between life cycle and cell cycle progression, revealing that some developmental transitions are strongly linked to a cell cycle phase, whereas others occur asynchronously. This work provides a comprehensive atlas and marker gene list for the interlinked cell and life cycles of two laboratory-cultured Leishmania species.
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BibTeX
@misc{marques2026singlecell,
title = {{Single-cell transcriptomics reveals life cycle and cell cycle gene expression dynamics during in vitro growth of two Leishmania species}},
author = {C. A. Marques and R. F. Laidlaw and F. Warren and G. L. A. da Silva and M. Young and K. Crouch and R. Burchmore and T. D. Otto and M. Llewellyn and R. McCulloch and E. M. Briggs},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.29.755301},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755301v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Single-cell transcriptomics reveals life cycle and cell cycle gene expression dynamics during in vitro growth of two Leishmania species
AU - C. A. Marques
AU - R. F. Laidlaw
AU - F. Warren
AU - G. L. A. da Silva
AU - M. Young
AU - K. Crouch
AU - R. Burchmore
AU - T. D. Otto
AU - M. Llewellyn
AU - R. McCulloch
AU - E. M. Briggs
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.29.755301
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755301v1
AB - Leishmania species are transmitted between mammals by sand flies, within which they undergo a complex developmental programme involving transitions between replicative and non-replicative life cycle forms. Recent work using single-cell transcriptomics has revealed the developmental pathways of Leishmania major in the sand fly, but it is unclear how faithfully such development is recapitulated during Leishmania culture in vitro. In addition, no work has revealed how gene expression changes across the cell cycle of replicative Leishmania forms. Using single-cell transcriptomics on unsynchronised cultures of L. major and L. mexicana, we addressed both questions. We show that in vitro L. mexicana promastigotes display the same two developmental endpoints seen in L. major cells recovered from sand flies, metacyclics and haptomonads. In contrast, L. major promastigote development in vitro does not predict the presence of leptomonads or haptomonads, although non-dividing late metacyclics form through an early metacyclic stage as parasites enter stationary phase. Using computational reconstruction of the cell cycle in procyclic promastigote forms of both Leishmania species identified hundreds of genes whose transcript levels vary as the cell cycle progresses, revealing core conserved processes between the two species and with the closely related Trypanosoma brucei. These genes allowed us to examine connections between life cycle and cell cycle progression, revealing that some developmental transitions are strongly linked to a cell cycle phase, whereas others occur asynchronously. This work provides a comprehensive atlas and marker gene list for the interlinked cell and life cycles of two laboratory-cultured Leishmania species.
ER -