VF transcript expression did not differ by species (L. (V.)panamensis versus L. (V.)braziliensis and L. (V.)guyanensis) for all baseline pure Leishmania cultures (pre-macrophage infection) for the following: gp63 (p = 0.50), cpb (p = 0.25), mpi (p = 0.86), hsp23 (p = 0.68), hsp70 (p = 0.79), hsp90 (p = 0.50), and pooled (p > 0.99) analyses (Additional file 2: Figure S3). Here, CPB1 is linked to infection.