Simple Nutrition of <i>Crithidia deanei</i>, a Reduviid Trypanosomatid with an Endosymbiont*

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Crithidia deanei from the reduviid hemipteron, Zelus leucogrammus , unlike most lower trypanosomatids cultivated in defined medium, required only 2 amino acids, methionine and tyrosine; only 4 vitamins, folic acid, thiamine, biotin, and nicotinamide; and neither hemin nor a purine source. Electron microscopy reveals an endosymbiont, probably bacterial, which presumably provides the other basic trypanosomatid essential nutrients.