RESUMEN
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a serious tropical disease that affects approximately 500 thousand people worldwide every year. In the Americas, VL is caused by the parasite Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi mainly transmitted by the bite of the sand fly vector Lutzomyia longipalpis. Despite recent advances in the study of interaction between Leishmania and sand flies, very little is known about sand fly protein expression profiles. Understanding how the expression of proteins may be affected by blood feeding and/or presence of parasite in the vector's midgut might allow us to devise new strategies for controlling the spread of leishmaniasis. In this work, we report the characterization of a vacuolar ATPase subunit C from L. longipalpis by screening of a midgut cDNA library with a 220 bp fragment identified by means of differential display reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis. The expression of the gene varies along insect development and is upregulated in males and bloodfed L. longipalpis, compared to unfed flies.
Asunto(s)
Animales , Masculino , Cricetinae , Conducta Alimentaria/fisiología , Insectos Vectores/genética , Psychodidae/genética , ATPasas de Translocación de Protón Vacuolares/genética , Secuencia de Bases , Southern Blotting , Clonación Molecular , Sistema Digestivo/enzimología , Sistema Digestivo/parasitología , Insectos Vectores/embriología , Insectos Vectores/enzimología , Leishmaniasis Visceral/transmisión , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Subunidades de Proteína , Psychodidae/embriología , Psychodidae/enzimología , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa de Transcriptasa Inversa , ATPasas de Translocación de Protón Vacuolares/metabolismoRESUMEN
This study reports the embryogenesis of T. infestans (Hemiptera, Reduviidae). Morphological parameters of growth sequences from oviposition until hatching (12-14 d 28 degrees C) were established. Five periods, as percent of time of development (TD), were characterized from oviposition until hatching. The most important morphological features were: 1) formation of blastoderm within 7% of TD; 2) germ band and gastrulation within 30% of TD; 3) nerve cord, limb budding, thoracic and abdominal segmentation and formation of body cavity within 50% of TD; 4) nervous system and blastokinesis end, and development of embryonic cuticle within 65% of TD; 5) differentiation of the mouth parts, fat body, and malpighian tubules during final stage and completion of embryo at day 12 to day 14 around hatching. These signals were chosen as appropriate morphological parameters which should enable the evaluation of embryologic modifications due to the action/s of different insecticides