Establishment of a model to study persistence in Leishmania parasites

The primary objective of this study was identify he molecular mechanisms driving the persister phenotype in Leishmania mexicana and to map the dynamic transcriptomic transitions governing drug survival, metabolic latency, and cellular reactivation. To achieve this, we employed a Ficoll gradient centrifugation method to isolate viable, persister-like subpopulations following exposure to a lethal dose of potassium antimonyl tartrate (PAT).

We then utilized a comprehensive RNA-seq strategy across six biological comparisons (C1–C6), specifically designed to capture the acute stress response, the drug-free recovery phase, and a secondary drug rechallenge