American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis is caused by parasites of the genus 
Leishmania, and causes significant health problems throughout the Americas. In 
Panama, Leishmania parasites are endemic, causing thousands of new cases every 
year, mostly of the cutaneous form. In the last years, the burden of the disease 
has increased, coincident with increasing disturbances in its natural sylvatic 
environments. The study of genetic variation in parasites is important for a 
better understanding of the biology, population genetics, and ultimately the 
evolution and epidemiology of these organisms. Very few attempts have been made 
to characterize genetic polymorphisms of parasites isolated from Panamanian 
patients of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Here we present data on the genetic 
variability of local isolates of Leishmania, as well as specimens from several 
other species, by means of Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLP), a 
technique seldom used to study genetic makeup of parasites. We demonstrate that 
this technique allows detection of very high levels of genetic variability in 
local isolates of Leishmania panamensis in a highly reproducible manner. The 
analysis of AFLP fingerprints generated by unique selective primer combinations 
in L. panamensis suggests a predominant clonal mode of reproduction. Using 
fluorescently labeled primers, many taxon-specific fragments were identified 
which may show potential as species diagnostic fragments. The AFLP permitted a 
high resolution genetic analysis of the Leishmania genus, clearly separating 
certain groups among L. panamensis specimens and highly related species such as 
L. panamensis and L. guyanensis. The phylogenetic networks reconstructed from 
our AFLP data are congruent with established taxonomy for the genus Leishmania, 
even when using single selective primer combinations. Results of this study 
demonstrate that AFLP polymorphisms can be informative for genetic 
characterization in Leishmania parasites, at both intra and inter-specific 
levels.