This type of movement appears similar to the undulating membrane of the sexually-transmitted pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis and can result in a false-positive diagnosis in cases where B. saltans is a contaminant in test samples, especially if a nonsterile saline solution has been used.

[3] Commonly, the molecules of mitochondrial DNA in eukaryotes are circular and replication and transcription result in topological stress that is mitigated by enzymes called topoisomerases.

Kinetoplastids possess a single mitochondrion with what is perhaps the most complex network of mitochondrial "kDNA" in small and large circular forms.

It is also the significance of the enzyme class of topoisomerases to the function of kinetoplastids that makes the topo genes a target for the medical treatment of trypanosomal and leishmanial diseases.

[4] Other studies show that the trypanosomatids evolved relatively late among the kinetoplastids and constitute a monophyletic group, but that the bodonids may be paraphyletic.