Genomics and functional genomics in Leishmania and Trypanosoma cruzi: Status, challenges and perspectives

Abstract

The availability of Trypanosomatid genomic data in public databases opened up a myriad of experimental possibilities that has contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of the biology of these parasites and their interactions with hosts. In this review, after brief remarks on the history of the T. cruzi and Leishmania genome initiative, we present an overview of the relevant contributions of genomics, transcriptomics and functional genomics discussing the main obstacles, challenges, most relevant achievements and future perspectives.