Abstract
Phlebotomine sand flies are hematophagous insects that harbor bacterial, viral and parasitic agents like Bartonella sp., Phleboviruses and Leishmania spp., respectively. There are few reports on bacterial microbiota of Phlebotomus (P.) papatasi but no data available for natural populations of Turkey, where leishmaniasis is endemic. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the midgut bacterial flora of different populations of P. papatasi. Sand flies were collected from different towns (Karaburun, Urla, Ayvacik and Başçayır) located in the western part of Turkey. Laboratory reared P. papatasi were included in the study as an insectarium population. After sterile washing steps, sand flies were dissected and guts were separated. Three pools, (males, unfed females and blood-fed females) were generated for each population. Prokaryotic 16 S rRNA gene was amplified and DGGE was performed. Fourteen different organisms belonging to two Phylum (Proteobactericea and Furmicutes) were identified according to sequence results in the studied pools. The presence of Wolbachia sp. was shown for the first time in the wild-caught sand fly populations of Turkey. This is the first report of gut bacterial flora of wild-caught P. papatasi collected in an endemic area for leishmaniasis in Turkey. Microbiome profiling of wild-caught sand flies will be of great help in the investigating of possible vector control candidates for paratransgenic control approach.
Highlights
Flies[7,11,12]
P. papatasi is one of the most abundant species that reported in Turkey, which is the main vector of L. major, the causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) endemic areas in Mediterranean Basin[18,19,20]
We aimed to identify the possible paratransgenic bacteria candidates, which could be used in the control of leishmaniasis in Turkey
Summary
Flies[7,11,12]. Bacterial composition may either enhance or inhibit the parasitic activity and it’s strictly dependent to species of harboring bacteria. A bacterium present in the digestive tract of P. duboscqi has significant anti-parasitic effects on Leishmania development, while bacterial composition is critical factor for Leishmania growth in Lutzomyia longipalpis[7,13] Due to this strong interaction between microbiome of the gut and the parasite, novel vector control approach called paratransgenesis, using genetically transformed microbes to express anti-parasitic molecules to reduce transmission, was applied in a previous study[14]. P. papatasi is one of the most abundant species that reported in Turkey, which is the main vector of L. major, the causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) endemic areas in Mediterranean Basin[18,19,20]. We aimed to identify the possible paratransgenic bacteria candidates, which could be used in the control of leishmaniasis in Turkey
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