Abstract
The microbial consortium associated with sandflies has gained relevance, with its composition shifting throughout distinct developmental stages, being strongly influenced by the surroundings and food sources. The bacterial components of the microbiota can interfere with Leishmania development inside the sandfly vector. Microbiota diversity and host-microbiota-pathogen interactions regarding New World sandfly species have yet to be thoroughly studied, particularly in Lutzomyia longipalpis, the primary vector of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil.The native microbiota of different developmental stages and physiological conditions of Lu. longipalpis (Lapinha Cave), was described by culturing and 16s rRNA gene sequencing. The 16s rRNA sequencing of culture-dependent revealed 13 distinct bacterial genera (Bacillus, Enterococcus, Erwinia, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Klebsiella, Lysinibacillus, Pseudocitrobacter, Providencia, Pseudomonas, Serratia, Staphylococcus and Solibacillus). The in vitro and in vivo effects of each one of the 13 native bacteria from the Lu. longipalpis were analyzed by co-cultivation with promastigotes of L.i. chagasi, L. major, L. amazonensis, and L. braziliensis. After 24 h of co-cultivation, a growth reduction observed in all parasite species. When the parasites were co-cultivated with Lysinibacillus, all parasites of L. infantum chagasi and L. amazonensis died within 24 hours. In the in vivo co-infection of L.chagasi, L. major and L. amazonensis with the genera Lysinibacillus, Pseudocitrobacter and Serratia it was possible to observe a significant difference between the groups co-infected with the bacterial genera and the control group.These findings suggest that symbiont bacteria (Lysinibacillus, Serratia, and Pseudocitrobacter) are potential candidates for paratransgenic or biological control. Further studies are needed to identify the nature of the effector molecules involved in reducing the vector competence for Leishmania.
Highlights
In the last decade, microbial communities associated with sandflies gained relevance, as it has observed to play an essential role in Leishmania development within the host’s digestive tract [1]
Considering the knowledge about the intestinal microbiota of sandflies, we aim to study the effect of bacterial isolates on Lu. longipalpis infection by different species of Leishmania, and it believed that these bacteria might influence the development of Leishmania, preventing, and hindering transmission, contributing to Leishmaniasis control strategies
The same study showed a pre-infected sandfly challenged with a high dose (5x107 CFU/ml) of S. marcensces survived longer compared to control. These results suggest that Leishmania directly protects the sandfly from the bacterial infection, or modulates its effect by priming the host immune response, as observed in other models like Anopheles gambiae infected with Plasmodium [13]
Summary
Microbial communities associated with sandflies gained relevance, as it has observed to play an essential role in Leishmania development within the host’s digestive tract [1]. The sandfly microbiota is a dynamic community mostly acquired from their environment as in other Insecta or Diptera. Sandflies acquire bacterial symbiont as immature stages by feeding upon the organic matter from the humid soil in which they develop. From this larval food, some symbionts remain prevalent as members of the adult’s microbiota, suggesting a transstadial transmission after the pupation process [2,3]. In addition to niche-acquired symbionts, feeding sources may modify adult microbiota diversity. Both females and males feed on plant sap and honeydew aphids
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