Author:
KAMHAWI S.,MODI G. B.,PIMENTA P. F. P.,ROWTON E.,SACKS D. L.
Abstract
The vectorial competence of Phlebotomus sergenti for 3 Old World species of Leishmania, L. tropica, L. major and L.
donovani, was investigated in vivo and by in vitro midgut binding assays using living promastigotes and purified
lipophosphoglycan (LPG). P. sergenti consistently showed a high specificity for L. tropica strains, which were able to
develop mature, potentially transmissible infections. The loss of infection with L. major and L. donovani correlated with
the excretion of the digested bloodmeal. These strains were able to produce sustained infections in the midguts of their
appropriate vectors, P. papatasi and P. argentipes, respectively. In in vitro binding assays, a significantly higher number
of L. tropica procyclic promastigotes attached to the midgut lining of P. sergenti, compared to those of L. major and L.
donovani (P < 0·05). The prediction that the species specificity of midgut attachment is controlled by polymorphic
structures on the parasite LPG was supported by the finding that P. sergenti midguts were intensely stained following
incubation with purified phosphoglycan (PG) from L. tropica compared with PGs from L. major or L. donovani. The
results provide further evidence that LPG structural polymorphisms are driven by the species diversity of molecules
present on the sandfly midgut that function as parasite attachment sites.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Animal Science and Zoology,Parasitology
Cited by
85 articles.
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