Abstract

BackgroundEthiopia is affected by human leishmaniasis caused by several Leishmania species and transmitted by a variety of sand fly vectors of the genus Phlebotomus. The sand fly fauna in Ethiopia is highly diverse and some species are closely related and similar in morphology, resulting in difficulties with species identification that requires deployment of molecular techniques. DNA barcoding entails high costs, requires time and lacks reference sequences for many Ethiopian species. Yet, proper species identification is pivotal for epidemiological surveillance as species differ in their actual involvement in transmission cycles. Recently, protein profiling using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry has been introduced as a promising technique for sand fly identification.MethodsIn our study, we used an integrative taxonomic approach to identify most of the important sand fly vectors of leishmaniasis in Ethiopia, applying three complementary methods: morphological assessment, sequencing analysis of two genetic markers, and MALDI-TOF MS protein profiling.ResultsAlthough morphological assessment resulted in some inconclusive identifications, both DNA- and protein-based techniques performed well, providing a similar hierarchical clustering pattern for the analyzed species. Both methods generated species-specific sequences or protein patterns for all species except for Phlebotomus pedifer and P. longipes, the two presumed vectors of Leishmania aethiopica, suggesting that they may represent a single species, P. longipes Parrot & Martin. All three approaches also revealed that the collected specimens of Adlerius sp. differ from P. (Adlerius) arabicus, the only species of Adlerius currently reported in Ethiopia, and molecular comparisons indicate that it may represent a yet undescribed new species.ConclusionsOur study uses three complementary taxonomical methods for species identification of taxonomically challenging and yet medically import Ethiopian sand flies. The generated MALDI-TOF MS protein profiles resulted in unambiguous identifications, hence showing suitability of this technique for sand fly species identification. Furthermore, our results contribute to the still inadequate knowledge of the sand fly fauna of Ethiopia, a country severely burdened with human leishmaniasis.Graphical

Highlights

  • Ethiopia is affected by human leishmaniasis caused by several Leishmania species and transmitted by a variety of sand fly vectors of the genus Phlebotomus

  • Our study presents for the first time an integrative taxonomic approach to identify most of the important sand fly vectors of leishmaniasis in Ethiopia, applying three complementary methods: morphological assessment, sequencing analysis of two genetic markers, and MALDI-TOF Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS) protein profiling

  • To the best of our knowledge, this study demonstrates for the first time that MALDI-TOF MS protein profiling is a suitable taxonomical approach for cost-effective, unambiguous species identification of Ethiopian sand flies

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Ethiopia is affected by human leishmaniasis caused by several Leishmania species and transmitted by a variety of sand fly vectors of the genus Phlebotomus. The sand fly fauna in Ethiopia is highly diverse and some species are closely related and similar in morphology, resulting in difficulties with species identification that requires deployment of molecular techniques. Protein profiling using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry has been introduced as a promising technique for sand fly identification. Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera, Phlebotominae) are hematophagous insects of great medical importance as the females of some species are the vectors of the protozoans Leishmania spp., which are transmitted during blood-feeding on a vertebrate host. Proven vectors of VL in different regions in Ethiopia are Phlebotomus orientalis, P. martini and to a lesser extent P. celiae [5,6,7,8,9]. The main causative parasite species is L. aethiopica, which is transmitted by P. longipes in northern and central Ethiopia and P. pedifer in southwestern Ethiopia [10,11,12,13,14,15,16]

Objectives
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call