First evidence of experimental genetic hybridization between cutaneous and visceral strains of Leishmania donovani within its natural vector Phlebotomus argentipes.

Autor: Riyal H; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka., Ferreira TR; Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA., Paun A; Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA., Ghosh K; Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA., Samaranayake N; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka., Sacks DL; Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: dsacks@nih.gov., Karunaweera ND; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Electronic address: nadira@parasit.cmb.ac.lk.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Acta tropica [Acta Trop] 2023 Sep; Vol. 245, pp. 106979. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2023.106979
Abstrakt: Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of genus Leishmania, and transmitted by different species of Phlebotomine sand flies. More than 20 species of Leishmania are known to cause disease in humans and other animals. Leishmania donovani species complex is known to have a vast diversity of clinical manifestations in humans, but underlying mechanisms for such diversity are yet unknown. Long believed to be strictly asexual, Leishmania have been shown to undergo a cryptic sexual cycle inside its sandfly vector. Natural populations of hybrid parasites have been associated with the rise of atypical clinical outcomes in the Indian subcontinent (ISC). However, formal demonstration of genetic crossing in the major endemic sandfly species in the ISC remain unexplored. Here, we investigated the ability of two distinct variants of L. donovani associated with strikingly different forms of the disease to undergo genetic exchange inside its natural vector, Phlebotomus argentipes. Clinical isolates of L. donovani either from a Sri Lankan cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) patient or an Indian visceral leishmaniasis (VL) patient were genetically engineered to express different fluorescent proteins and drug-resistance markers and subsequently used as parental strains in experimental sandfly co-infection. After 8 days of infection, sand flies were dissected and midgut promastigotes were transferred into double drug-selective media. Two double drug-resistant, dual fluorescent hybrid cell lines were recovered, which after cloning and whole genome sequencing, were shown to be full genomic hybrids. This study provides the first evidence of L. donovani hybridization within its natural vector Ph. argentipes.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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