Analysis of salivary transcripts and antigens of the sand fly Phlebotomus arabicus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sand fly saliva plays an important role in blood feeding and Leishmania transmission as it was shown to increase parasite virulence. On the other hand, immunity to salivary components impedes the establishment of infection. Therefore, it is most desirable to gain a deeper insight into the composition of saliva in sand fly species which serve as vectors of various forms of leishmaniases. In the present work, we focused on Phlebotomus (Adlerius) arabicus, which was recently shown to transmit Leishmania tropica, the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Israel.

Results

A cDNA library from salivary glands of P. arabicus females was constructed and transcripts were sequenced and analyzed. The most abundant protein families identified were SP15-like proteins, Pa

SUBMITTER: Hostomska J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2714351 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature