Isolation of Kinetoplast DNA

The kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) network of the protozoan parasite Crithidia fasciculata is a naturally occurring gigantic catenane containing several thousand DNA minicircles. Because of its unusual structure, kDNA is an excellent substrate to use in decatenation assays of topoisomerase activity. Beyond this application, kDNA has also proven a fascinating experimental subject in its own right. Studies of the unique structure, mechanism of replication, and genetic function of kDNA have led to numerous interesting discoveries (see refs. 1-5 for reviews).