Abstract
BackgroundIn mosquitoes, it has previously been shown that rearing conditions of immature stages have an effect on the vector competence of adults. Here, we studied the impact of different larval rearing temperatures (27 °C versus 32 °C) on the sand fly Phlebotomus sergenti Parrot, 1917 and its susceptibility to two parasites: Leishmania tropica Wright, 1903, a dixenous trypanosomatid transmissible from sand flies to humans, and Psychodiella sergenti Lantova, Volf & Votypka, 2010, a monoxenous sand fly gregarine.ResultsIncreased rearing temperature (32 °C) affected the larval developmental times and size of P. sergenti adults but had no effect on the susceptibility of P. sergenti to L. tropica. No differences were found in Leishmania infection rates or in the intensities of Leishmania infection. Interestingly, increased larval rearing temperature significantly suppressed the development of gregarines. All 117 control sand flies tested were infected with Ps. sergenti, and the mean number of gamonts per individual was 29.5. In contrast, only three of 120 sand flies maintained at 32 °C were infected and the mean number of gamonts per individual was just 0.04.ConclusionsWe demonstrated that the increased rearing temperature of P. sergenti larvae had no impact on the development of L. tropica in adult sand flies but had a profound effect on the gregarine Ps. sergenti. We suggest that increasing the larval rearing temperature by 5 °C is a simple and effective way to clean sand fly colonies infected by gregarines.
Highlights
In mosquitoes, it has previously been shown that rearing conditions of immature stages have an effect on the vector competence of adults
Sand flies and parasites Two groups of P. sergenti infected with the gregarine Ps. sergenti were used in the study: (i) immature stages maintained at 27 °C; and (ii) immature stages maintained at 32 °C
No significant differences were found in infection rates or in intensities of Leishmania infection
Summary
It has previously been shown that rearing conditions of immature stages have an effect on the vector competence of adults. Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are blood-sucking insects traditionally divided into three main genera: Phlebotomus, Lutzomyia and Sergentomyia. They occur in a wide variety of habitats from deserts to rainforests. Both sexes feed on natural sugar sources, such as the sap of plants or honeydew, and females feed on the blood of a wide range of hosts including humans (reviewed by [1, 2]). Phlebotomine sand flies are known vectors of bacteria (e.g. Bartonella bacilliformis), viruses (mainly genus Phlebovirus) and Leishmania spp., digenetic parasites causing a variety of symptoms ranging from mild cutaneous lesions to mucocutaneous form to fatal visceral disease (reviewed by [2]). Leishmania life-cycle involves intracellular amastigotes in the vertebrate host and extracellular promastigotes in the vector.
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