Effects of mating on female reproductive physiology in the insect model, Rhodnius prolixus, a vector of the causative parasite of Chagas disease.

Autor: Leyria J; Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada., Guarneri AA; Instituto René Rachou, Avenida Augusto de Lima, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil., Lorenzo MG; Instituto René Rachou, Avenida Augusto de Lima, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.; Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Biotecnología (INBIOTEC-CONICET), Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina., Nouzova M; Biology Center of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Institute of Parasitology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic., Noriega FG; Department of Biological Sciences and Biomolecular Science Institute, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, United States of America.; Department of Parasitology, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic., Benrabaa SAM; Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada., Fernandez-Lima F; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biomolecular Science Institute, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, United States of America., Valadares Tose L; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biomolecular Science Institute, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, United States of America., Orchard I; Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada., Lange AB; Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PLoS neglected tropical diseases [PLoS Negl Trop Dis] 2023 Sep 20; Vol. 17 (9), pp. e0011640. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Sep 20 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011640
Abstrakt: The blood-sucking hemipteran Rhodnius prolixus is one of the main vectors of Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease that affects several million people worldwide. Consuming a blood meal and mating are events with a high epidemiological impact since after each meal, mated females can lay fertile eggs that result in hundreds of offspring. Thus, a better knowledge of the control of R. prolixus reproductive capacity may provide targets for developing novel strategies to control vector populations, thereby reducing vector-host contacts and disease transmission. Here, we have used a combination of gene transcript expression analysis, biochemical assays, hormone measurements and studies of locomotory activity to investigate how mating influences egg development and egg laying rates in R. prolixus females. The results demonstrate that a blood meal increases egg production capacity and leads to earlier egg laying in mated females compared to virgins. Virgin females, however, have increased survival rate over mated females. Circulating juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysteroid titers are increased in mated females, a process mainly driven through an upregulation of the transcripts for their biosynthetic enzymes in the corpus allatum and ovaries, respectively. Mated females display weaker locomotory activity compared to virgin females, mainly during the photophase. In essence, this study shows how reproductive output and behaviour are profoundly influenced by mating, highlighting molecular, biochemical, endocrine and behavioral features differentially expressed in mated and virgin R. prolixus females.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2023 Leyria et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz:
Nepřihlášeným uživatelům se plný text nezobrazuje