Embryogenesis of the Sand Fly Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae): Organogenesis of the Nervous System, Tracheal System, Muscular System, Heart, and Gonad Rudiments

The role of the peritrophic matrix (PM) in the development of Leishmania major infections in a natural vector, Phlebotomus papatasi, was investigated by addition of exogenous chitinase to the bloodmeal, which completely blocked PM formation. Surprisingly, the absence of the PM was associated with the loss of midgut infections. The chitinase was not directly toxic to the parasite, nor were midgut infections lost due to premature expulsion of the bloodmeal. Most parasites were killed in chitinase-treated flies within the first 4 h after feeding. Substantial early killing was also observed in control flies, suggesting that the lack of PM exacerbates lethal conditions which normally exist in the blood-fed midgut. Early parasite mortality was reversed by soybean trypsin inhibitor. Allosamadin, a specific inhibitor of chitinase, led to a thickening of the PM, and also prevented the early parasite mortality seen in infected flies. Susceptibility to gut proteases was extremely high in transitional-stage parasites, while amastigotes and fully transformed promastigotes were relatively resistant. A novel role for the PM in promoting parasite survival is suggested, in which the PM creates a barrier to the rapid diffusion of digestive enzymes, and limits the exposure of parasites to these enzymes during the time when they are especially vulnerable to proteolytic damage.

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Development of a Diagnostic Marker for Phlebotomus papatasi to Initiate a Potential Vector Surveillance Program in North America

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects9040162 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 162 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Austin Merchant ◽

Tian Yu ◽

Jizhe Shi ◽

Xuguo Zhou

Keyword(s):

Rapid Identification ◽

International Travel ◽

Sand Fly ◽

Surveillance Program ◽

Sand Flies ◽

Phlebotomus Papatasi ◽

Diagnostic Assay ◽

Vector Surveillance ◽

Geographical Regions ◽

Imminent Threat

Phlebotomus papatasi, an Old World sand fly species, is primarily responsible for the transmission of leishmaniasis, a highly infectious and potentially lethal disease. International travel, especially military rotations, between domestic locations and P. papatasi-prevalent regions in the Middle East poses an imminent threat to the public health of US citizens. Because of its small size and cryptic morphology, identification of P. papatasi is challenging and labor-intensive. Here, we developed a ribosomal DNA-polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic assay that is capable of detecting P. papatasi genomic DNA from mixed samples containing multiple sand flies native to the Americas. Serial dilution of P. papatasi samples demonstrated that this diagnostic assay could detect one P. papatasi from up to 255 non-target sand flies. Due to its simplicity, sensitivity and specificity, this rapid identification tool is suited for a long-term surveillance program to screen for the presence of P. papatasi in the continental United States and to reveal geographical regions potentially vulnerable to sand fly-borne diseases.

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Phlebotomus papatasi Antimicrobial Peptides in Larvae and Females and a Gut-Specific Defensin Upregulated by Leishmania major Infection

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms9112307 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 2307

Author(s):

Barbora Kykalová ◽

Lucie Tichá ◽

Petr Volf ◽

Erich Loza Telleria

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Antimicrobial Peptides ◽

Leishmania Major ◽

Larval Instar ◽

Gut Bacteria ◽

Sand Fly ◽

Control Group ◽

Phlebotomus Papatasi ◽

Major Infection ◽

Defensin Gene

Phlebotomus papatasi is the vector of Leishmania major, causing cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Old World. We investigated whether P. papatasi immunity genes were expressed toward L. major, commensal gut microbes, or a combination of both. We focused on sand fly transcription factors dorsal and relish and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) attacin and defensin and assessed their relative gene expression by qPCR. Sand fly larvae were fed food with different bacterial loads. Relish and AMPs gene expressions were higher in L3 and early L4 larval instars, while bacteria 16S rRNA increased in late L4 larval instar, all fed rich-microbe food compared to the control group fed autoclaved food. Sand fly females were treated with an antibiotic cocktail to deplete gut bacteria and were experimentally infected by Leishmania. Compared to non-infected females, dorsal and defensin were upregulated at early and late infection stages, respectively. An earlier increase of defensin was observed in infected females when bacteria recolonized the gut after the removal of antibiotics. Interestingly, this defensin gene expression occurred specifically in midguts but not in other tissues of females and larvae. A gut-specific defensin gene upregulated by L. major infection, in combination with gut-bacteria, is a promising molecular target for parasite control strategies.

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Spatial Bet Hedging in Sand Fly Oviposition: Factors Affecting Skip Oviposition in Phlebotomus papatasi Sand Flies

Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases ◽

10.1089/vbz.2020.2737 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 280-288

Author(s):

Lexua G. McLaughlin ◽

Gideon Wasserberg

Keyword(s):

Sand Fly ◽

Sand Flies ◽

Phlebotomus Papatasi ◽

Bet Hedging ◽

Factors Affecting

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Postembryonic patterns of expression of cut, a locus regulating sensory organ identity in Drosophila

Development ◽

10.1242/dev.117.2.441 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 117 (2) ◽

pp. 441-450 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

K. Blochlinger ◽

L.Y. Jan ◽

Y.N. Jan

Keyword(s):

Central Nervous System ◽

Nervous System ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Malpighian Tubules ◽

Follicle Cells ◽

Wing Margin ◽

Sensory Organs ◽

Tracheal System ◽

Organ Identity ◽

The Central Nervous System

The cut locus is both necessary and sufficient to specify the identity of a class of sensory organs in Drosophila embryos. It is also expressed in and required for the development of a number of other embryonic tissues, such as the central nervous system, the Malpighian tubules and the tracheal system. We here describe the expression of cut in the precursors of adult sensory organs. We also show that cut is expressed in cells of the prospective wing margin and correlate the wing margin phenotype caused by two cut mutations with altered cut expression patterns. Finally, we observe cut-expressing cells in other adult tissues, including Malpighian tubules, muscles, the central nervous system and ovarian follicle cells.

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On the reflex function of the medulla oblongata and spinalis, or the principle of tone in the muscular system

Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London ◽

10.1098/rspl.1830.0128 ◽

1837 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 210-210

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Medulla Oblongata ◽

Hydrocyanic Acid ◽

Muscular System ◽

Spinal Marrow ◽

Reflex Action ◽

The Will ◽

The Brain ◽

Morbid State

The author, after commenting on the opinions of Le Gallois and Cruveilhier relating to the functions of the spinal marrow, adverts to a property or function of the medulla oblongata and spinalis, which he considers as having escaped the notice of these and all other physiologists; namely, that by which an impression made upon the extremities of certain nerves is conveyed to these two portions of the nervous system, and reflected along other nerves to parts different from those which received the impression. He distinguishes muscular actions into three kinds: first, those directly consequent on volition; secondly, those which are involuntary, and dependent on simple irritability; and thirdly, those resulting from the reflex action above described, and which include those of the sphincter muscles, the tonic condition of the muscles in general, the acts of deglutition, of respiration, and many motions, which, under other circumstances, are under the guidance of the will. Volition ceases when the head or brain is removed; yet, as he shows by various experiments, movements may be then excited in the muscles of the limbs and trunk, by irritations applied to the extremities of the nerves which remain in communication with the spinal marrow: but these actions cease as soon as the spinal marrow is destroyed. Hence the author concludes that they are the effect of the reflex Action of the spinal marrow, which exists independently of the brain; and, indeed, exists in each part of the organ independently of every other part. He considers that this reflex function is capable of exaltation by certain agents, such as opium and strychnine, which in frogs produce a tetanic and highly excitable state of muscular irritability. Hence he is led to view the reflex function as the principle of tone in the muscular system. He considers that certain poisons, such as the hydrocyanic acid, act by destroying this particular function. The effects of dentition, of alvine irritation, and of hydrophobia, of sneezing, coughing, vomiting, tenesmus, &c. &c., are adduced as exemplifications of the operation of the same principle when in a morbid state of exaltation.

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PCR-RFLP Based Method for Molecular Differentiation of Sand Fly Species Phlebotomus argentipes, Phlebotomus papatasi, and Sergentomyia babu Found in India

Journal of Medical Entomology ◽

10.1603/me12033 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 49 (6) ◽

pp. 1515-1518 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Puja Tiwary ◽

Dinesh Kumar ◽

Madhukar Rai ◽

Shyam Sundar

Keyword(s):

Sand Fly ◽

Phlebotomus Papatasi ◽

Molecular Differentiation ◽

Phlebotomus Argentipes ◽

Pcr Rflp

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The extent of long-term temperature compensation for jumping distance in the frog, Rana pipiens, and the toad, Bufo americanus

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z83-172 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 61 (6) ◽

pp. 1284-1287 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

J. M. Renaud ◽

E. D. Stevens

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Test Temperature ◽

Temperature Compensation ◽

Rana Pipiens ◽

Acclimation Temperature ◽

Thermal Compensation ◽

Muscular System ◽

Bufo Americanus ◽

Toad Bufo

The effects of acclimation to either 5 or 25 °C were studied on the longest jumping distances of Rana pipiens and Bufo americanus to estimate their capacity for long-term compensation. Animals were tested randomly at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 °C. Both Rana and Bufo jumped further at higher temperatures. For both species, acclimation temperature modified the effect of test temperature. At test temperatures of 20 and 25 °C, frogs acclimated to 25 °C jumped further than those acclimated to 5 °C. There was no evidence for thermal compensation in toads, but half of those acclimated to 25 °C would not jump when tested at 5 °C, whereas only 1 out of 16 cold-acclimated toads did not jump. We suggest that the acclimation effects on the jumping ability of R. pipiens at high temperatures are important in increasing their ability to escape predation and that this effect depends on an effect on the nervous system rather than the muscular system.

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