Afrotropical sand fly-host plant relationships in a leishmaniasis endemic area, Kenya.

ABSTRACT: The bioecology of phlebotomine sand flies is intimately linked to the utilization of environmental resources including plant feeding. However, plant feeding behavior of sand flies remains largely understudied for Afrotropical species. Here, using a combination of biochemical, molecular, and chemical approaches, we decipher specific plant-feeding associations in field-collected sand flies from a dry ecology endemic for leishmaniasis in Kenya. Cold-anthrone test indicative of recent plant feeding showed that fructose positivity rates were similar in both sand fly sexes and between those sampled indoors and outdoors. Analysis of derived sequences of the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase large subunit gene (rbcL) from fructose-positive specimens implicated mainly Acacia plants in the famil

SUBMITTER: Hassaballa IB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7895382 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature