Transcriptomic analysis of the adaptation to prolonged starvation of the insect-dwelling Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma cruzi is a digenetic unicellular parasite that alternates between a blood-sucking insect and a mammalian, host causing Chagas disease or American trypanosomiasis. In the insect gut, the parasite differentiates from the non-replicative trypomastigote forms that arrive upon blood ingestion to the non-infective replicative epimastigote forms. Epimastigotes develop into infective non-replicative metacyclic trypomastigotes in the rectum and are delivered via the feces. In addition to these parasite stages, transitional forms have been reported. The insect-feeding behavior, characterized by few meals of large blood amounts followed by long periods of starvation, impacts the parasite population density and differentiation, increasing the transitional forms while diminish

SUBMITTER: Smircich P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10117895 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature