scholarly journals Characterization and Tissue Tropism of Newly Identified Iflavirus and Negeviruses in Glossina morsitans morsitans Tsetse Flies

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2472
Author(s):  
Irene K. Meki ◽  
Hannah-Isadora Huditz ◽  
Anton Strunov ◽  
René A. A. van der Vlugt ◽  
Henry M. Kariithi ◽  
...  

Tsetse flies cause major health and economic problems as they transmit trypanosomes causing sleeping sickness in humans (Human African Trypanosomosis, HAT) and nagana in animals (African Animal Trypanosomosis, AAT). A solution to control the spread of these flies and their associated diseases is the implementation of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). For successful application of SIT, it is important to establish and maintain healthy insect colonies and produce flies with competitive fitness. However, mass production of tsetse is threatened by covert virus infections, such as the Glossina pallidipes salivary gland hypertrophy virus (GpSGHV). This virus infection can switch from a covert asymptomatic to an overt symptomatic state and cause the collapse of an entire fly colony. Although the effects of GpSGHV infections can be mitigated, the presence of other covert viruses threaten tsetse mass production. Here we demonstrated the presence of two single-stranded RNA viruses isolated from Glossina morsitans morsitans originating from a colony at the Seibersdorf rearing facility. The genome organization and the phylogenetic analysis based on the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) revealed that the two viruses belong to the genera Iflavirus and Negevirus, respectively. The names proposed for the two viruses are Glossina morsitans morsitans iflavirus (GmmIV) and Glossina morsitans morsitans negevirus (GmmNegeV). The GmmIV genome is 9685 nucleotides long with a poly(A) tail and encodes a single polyprotein processed into structural and non-structural viral proteins. The GmmNegeV genome consists of 8140 nucleotides and contains two major overlapping open reading frames (ORF1 and ORF2). ORF1 encodes the largest protein which includes a methyltransferase domain, a ribosomal RNA methyltransferase domain, a helicase domain and a RdRp domain. In this study, a selective RT-qPCR assay to detect the presence of the negative RNA strand for both GmmIV and GmmNegeV viruses proved that both viruses replicate in G. m. morsitans. We analyzed the tissue tropism of these viruses in G. m. morsitans by RNA-FISH to decipher their mode of transmission. Our results demonstrate that both viruses can be found not only in the host’s brain and fat bodies but also in their reproductive organs, and in milk and salivary glands. These findings suggest a potential horizontal viral transmission during feeding and/or a vertically viral transmission from parent to offspring. Although the impact of GmmIV and GmmNegeV in tsetse rearing facilities is still unknown, none of the currently infected tsetse species show any signs of disease from these viruses.

Acta Tropica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 53-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benson M. Wachira ◽  
Paul O. Mireji ◽  
Sylvance Okoth ◽  
Margaret M. Ng’ang’a ◽  
Julius M. William ◽  
...  

1980 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Phelps ◽  
N. G. Chapman

AbstractLarge electrocuting nets were used at different seasons near a big tree in Zimbabwe to capture tsetse flies at different heights, distances from the bole and times of day. Some differences were found between species and sexes, but most flies were caught within 3·3 m of the ground and in the late afternoon. In the cool and wet seasons, Glossina pallidipes Aust. was less confined to lower levels than was G. morsitans morsitans Westw. Flies, especially fed males of G. pallidipes near the bole of the tree, were recorded in the greatest numbers in the midday period. Diurnal variations occurred in the relative proportions of females of the two species caught at different points. Releasing ox odour through an electrocuting net suspended at different heights confirmed that most flies were flying near the ground, especially in the hot dry season. Comparison of samples from the large electrocuting nets with those caught by other methods operated contemporaneously showed that the large nets gave samples which compared well with those from an electrocuting screen used in conjunction with a ventilated pit. Methods involving fly-capture by people gave very distorted results for all catch parameters examined. No method used gave consistently representative samples of replete flies or of newly emerged flies.


1983 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Williamson ◽  
D. A. Dame ◽  
D. B. Gates ◽  
P. E. Cobb ◽  
B. Bakuli ◽  
...  

AbstractA field trial of the sterile insect technique was conducted in Tanzania using males of Glossina morsitans morsitans Westw. that were reared, irradiated and packaged at Tanga. The experimental site was a 195–km2 area 110 km to the south. Following two applications of endosulfan as an aerosol at an interval of 28 days, irradiated puparia of G. m. morsitans were released twice weekly at stations distributed throughout the experimental site. Each of the 120 release stations was serviced every 14 days with puparia which produced sterile adults synchronously within 30 min after placement. Over the 15–month experimental period, an average of 81% control of G. m. morsitans was obtained, whereas G. pallidipes Aust., against which no releases were carried out, recovered to prespray levels within five months. The released sterile insects were found to be highly competitive and to survive well in the field. Immigration of indigenous flies from outside the perimeter barrier surrounding the experimental plot provided a continuous influx of fertile flies that provided the nucleus of the 19% residual population. Under operational conditions, the prevention of migration should result in the elimination of an indigenous G. m. morsitans population subjected to the combined stress of population reduction by two applications of endosulfan aerosols and sequential releases of sterile males.


2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. TORR ◽  
A. CHAMISA ◽  
G. A. VALE ◽  
M. J. LEHANE ◽  
J. M. LINDH

Author(s):  
Kalinga Chilongo ◽  
Tawanda Manyangadze ◽  
Samson Mukaratirwa

Abstract The effect of human-associated habitat degradation on tsetse populations is well established. However, more insights are needed into how gradual human encroachment into tsetse fly belts affect tsetse populations. This study investigated how wing vein length, wing fray categories, and hunger stages, taken as indicators of body size, age, and levels of access to hosts, respectively, in Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood (Diptera: Glossinidae) and Glossina pallidipes Austen (Diptera: Glossinidae), varied along a transect from the edge into inner parts of the tsetse belt, in sites that had human settlement either concentrated at the edge of belt or evenly distributed along transect line, in north-eastern Zambia. Black-screen fly round and Epsilon traps were used in a cross-sectional survey on tsetse flies at three sites, following a transect line marked by a road running from the edge into the inner parts of the tsetse belt, per site. Two sites had human settlement concentrated at or close to the edge of the tsetse belt, whereas the third had human settlement evenly distributed along the transect line. Where settlements were concentrated at the edge of tsetse belt, increase in distance from the settlements was associated with increase in wing vein length and a reduction in the proportion of older, and hungry, tsetse flies. Increase in distance from human settlements was associated with improved tsetse well-being, likely due to increase in habitat quality due to decrease in effects of human activities.


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 1149-1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
W G Evans ◽  
R H Gooding

The roles and interactions of turbulent plumes of heat, moist heat, and carbon dioxide in mediating upwind flight of adult tsetse flies (Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood) were investigated using a wind tunnel in a constant-environment chamber. Heat fluctuations in the plume that were detected by a thermocouple and displayed as oscilloscope traces allowed direct visualization of the structures of the plumes. Significantly more flies flew upwind when exposed to plumes of (i) carbon dioxide (0.0051% above background) and air (58% relative humidity) compared with air alone; (ii) carbon dioxide and heated air (35% relative humidity and temperature fluctuating up to 0.09°C above background) compared with carbon dioxide and air; and (iii) carbon dioxide and moist (82% relative humidity) heated air (temperature fluctuating up to 0.05°C above background) compared with carbon dioxide and heated air. However, there were no significant differences in upwind flight of flies exposed to plumes of (i) air compared with humidified air (65% relative humidity); (ii) carbon dioxide and heated air compared with heated air alone; and (iii) carbon dioxide and moist heated air compared with moist heated air alone. Recorded temperature fluctuations in heat plumes transported downwind from a tethered steer in a pasture showed patterns similar to those produced in the wind-tunnel plumes. These results suggest that host emissions of carbon dioxide alone and combined heat and moisture carried downwind by low-velocity winds elicit upwind anemotaxis in tsetse flies, which distinguish these emissions from a background of lower atmospheric levels.


1954 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Hocking ◽  
D. Yeo ◽  
D. G. Anstey

An experiment is described where applications of a coarse aerosol were made to savannah woodland containing the tsetse flies, Glossina moritans Westw., G. swynnertoni Aust. and G. pallidipes Aust.Seven applications were made, each at a nominal dosage of 0·25 lb. of technical DDT per acre and 0·25 gallons of solution per acre. The applications in any particular part of the treaed woodland covered an interval of 90 days, or rather more than two pupal periods.The coarse aerosol was produced by emitting the insecticidal solution under pressure through fine nozzles fitted to a boom. It had a mass median diameter of approximately 60 microns, and droplet dismeters varied from a few microns to approximately 200 microns.The population of G. pallidipes was so drastically reduced that it has subsequently dies out. The reduction of G. morsitans was approximately 95 per cent. The differences between the reductions are attributed mainly to differences between the ease with which the three species can be killed. It is pointed out that this is not necessarily equivalent to differences in susceptibility.Comparisons are made with previous experiments, and the different results of the various experiments are difficult to explian satisfactory. The increased cover in savannah areas during the leafy period may have reduced the effectiveness of the applications, and the total periods covered by the various series of applications were probably also important. Random effects, leading to ineffective treatments, may also be important.Costs are discussed.


1991 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Vale

AbstractField studies in Zimbabwe elucidated how trees might be enhanced as baits for controlling Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood and G. pallidipes Austen. Catches from electrocuting devices at the bases of trees were near nil when sampling tsetse flies landing on the trunk but much greater when sampling them flying within 1 m of the trunk. Catches increased 5–8 times when 2 m2 of the trunk were blackened and given odour of acetone, 1-octen-3-ol, 3-n-propyl phenol and 4-methyl phenol, but were still only ca. 30% of the catches from an odour-baited, free-standing, 1 × 1 m screen of black cloth. The upright trunk of real and model trees hindered their attractiveness but leaves and branches 5 m above ground had no clear effect. Real and artificial stumps of trees were as effective as the screen if they were 1 m2, compact and sharply outlined. The practical and biological implications of the results are discussed, with particular reference to the use of insecticide-treated netting with modified tree stumps as baits for control.


1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon G. Houseman

The anterior midgut of Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood contains a proteinase inhibitor, molecular weight 5000 ± 2000daltons, stable to 1 M HCl, heat, and dialysis, but unstable to 1% trichloroacetic acid. Inhibitor activity is not associated with anticoagulant in the anterior midgut. The specific activity of the proteinase inhibitor is similar in mated and unmated females and greater than in male tsetse flies. Proteinase inhibitor inhibits proteinase VI and trypsin hydrolysis of N-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester (BAEE) and benzoyl-DL-arginine-p-nitroanilide (BAPNA) but has no effect on proteinase VI hydrolysis of haemoglobin. Inhibition of trypsin hydrolysis of haemoglobin is noncompetitive. Proteinase inhibitor levels in the anterior midgut decreased immediately after feeding and then increased, reaching a maximum 60–100 h after ingestion of the bloodmeal. Postteneral flies contained higher levels of proteinase inhibitor than teneral individuals. Trypsin activity in gut homogenates of Phormia regina and Aedes aegypti was inhibited by the tsetse inhibitor. There was no detectable inhibition of bovine or Pterostichus adstrictus trypsin activity. Inhibition of Periplaneta americana trypsin occurred but was less than fly trypsin inhibition. The possible role of the inhibitor in terminating proteinase production is discussed.


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