Development of Leishmania mexicana in Lutzomyia longipalpis in the absence of sugar feeding

Abstract

The leishmaniases are caused by Leishmania parasites and transmitted through the bites of phlebotomine sand flies. During parasite development inside the vector’s midgut, promastigotes move towards the stomodeal valve, a mechanism that is crucial for transmission. It has been reported that the sugar meal acquired by sand flies during feeding between bloodmeals is essential for the development and migration of parasites. We demonstrated that the distribution of Leishmania mexicana parasites was affected by the sugar meals obtained by the sand flies. Promastigote migration towards the cardia region seems to be only partially based on the stimuli provided by sugar molecules. In the absence of sugars, significant amounts of parasites developed in the hindgut. In addition, sugar meals were important for the survival of sand flies, especially during blood digestion, presumably supporting their energy requirements.

Experimental Susceptibility of Nyssomyia antunesi and Lutzomyia longipalpis (Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) to Leishmania (Viannia) lainsoni and L. (V.) lindenbergi (Trypanosomatidae: Leishmaniinae)

“…Preliminary experimental infections have already been performed and the descriptions of these experiments with the two Leishmania species have focused on determining the developmental pattern for taxonomic purpose [19,38], thus not extending to the observation of late-stage promastigote forms. Lutzomyia longipalpis is well known as the major natural vector of L. (L.) chagasi [54], which is laboratory-supported as a permissive vector and competent for experimentally transmitting L. (V.) braziliensis [55], L. (L.) chagasi [56], L. (L.) mexicana [57], L. (L.) major [58,59] and L. (L.) amazonensis [60].…”

Genetic characterization and description of Leishmania (Leishmania) ellisi sp. nov.: a new human-infecting species from the USA

“…( L. ) mexicana in parts of Mexico (Berzunza-Cruz et al 2015 ), and in Brazil, L. ( L. ) amazonensis has been detected in black rats (Caldart et al 2017 ), cats (Nascimento et al 2022 ), and dogs (Tolezano et al 2007 ). Data on potential vectors of L. ( L. ) mexicana complex parasites is relatively scarce, though natural vectors of L. ( L. ) mexicana may include Psathyromyia shannoni , Lutzomyia cruciate (Perez-Blas et al 2022 ), and Lutzomyia longipalpis (da Costa et al 2019 ). Vectors of L. ( L. ) amazonensis also largely remain a mystery, though Lutzomyia cruzi (de Oliveira et al 2017 ), Lu.…”

The effect of the sugar metabolism on Leishmania infantum promastigotes inside the gut of Lutzomyia longipalpis: A sweet relationship?

“…Although female sand flies need a blood meal to initiate ovarian development and oviposition, sand flies mainly feed on plant juices and sugary secretions. These ingested sugars are very important for subsequent parasite development and anterior migration in the sand fly gut [ 31 – 37 ] and are key drivers for metacyclogenesis [ 12 ] and the formation of the parasite’s LPG coat [ 37 – 41 ], which is altered upon parasite detachment from the fly’s midgut [ 41 – 45 ]. Moreover, sand fly survival decreases in the absence of sugars [ 31 ].…”