Caspar-like gene depletion reduces Leishmania infection in sand fly host Lutzomyia longipalpis.

ABSTRACT: Female phlebotomine sand flies Lutzomyia longipalpis naturally harbor populations of the medically important Leishmania infantum (syn. Leishmania chagasi) parasite in the gut, but the extent to which the parasite interacts with the immune system of the insect vector is unknown. To investigate the sand fly immune response and its interaction with the Leishmania parasite, we identified a homologue for caspar, a negative regulator of immune deficiency signaling pathway. We found that feeding antibiotics to adult female L. longipalpis resulted in an up-regulation of caspar expression relative to controls. caspar was differentially expressed when females were fed on gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial species. caspar expression was significantly down-regulated in females between 3 and 6 d

SUBMITTER: Telleria EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3339954 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature