An insight into the salivary gland and fat body transcriptome of Panstrongylus lignarius (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), the main vector of Chagas disease in Peru

Abstract

Triatomines are hematophagous arthropod vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas Disease. Panstrongylus lignarius, also known as Panstrongylus herreri, is considered one of the most versatile triatomines because it can parasitize different hosts, it is found in different habitats and countries, it has sylvatic, peridomestic and domestic behavior and it is a very important vector of Chagas disease, especially in Peru. Molecules produced and secreted by salivary glands and fat body are considered of important adaptational value for triatomines because, among other functions, they subvert the host haemostatic, inflammatory and immune systems and detoxify or protect them against environmental aggressors. In this context, the elucidation of the molecules produced by these tissues is highly valuable to understanding the ability of this species to adapt and transmit pathogens. Here, we use high-throughput sequencing techniques to assemble and describe the coding sequences resulting from the transcriptome of the fat body and salivary glands of P. lignarius. The final assembly of both transcriptomes together resulted in a total of 11,507 coding sequences (CDS), which were mapped from a total of 164,676,091 reads. The CDS were subdivided according to their 10 folds overexpression on salivary glands (513 CDS) or fat body (2073 CDS). Among the families of proteins found in the salivary glands, lipocalins were the most abundant. Other ubiquitous families of proteins present in other sialomes were also present in P. lignarius, including serine protease inhibitors, apyrase and antigen-5. The unique transcriptome of fat body showed proteins related to the metabolic function of this organ. Remarkably, nearly 20% of all reads mapped to transcripts coded by Triatoma virus. The data presented in this study improve the understanding on triatomines’ salivary glands and fat body function and reveal important molecules used in the interplay between vectors and vertebrate hosts.

Caracterización biológica y molecular de cepas de Panstrongylus sp. nativas del Perú

“…Por su parte, Nevoa, Mendes, da Silva, Soares, Oliveira, Ribeiro (19) en su artículo científico establecieron que los triatominos eran artrópodos hematófagos vectores de Trypanosoma cruzi, el agente causante de la enfermedad de Chagas Además, se ha establecido que Panstrongylus lignarius, considerado uno de los triatominos más versátiles porque podía parasitar a diferentes hospederos, se encontraba en diferentes hábitats y países, tenía un comportamiento selvático, peri doméstico y doméstico, y era un vector muy importante de la transmisión de enfermedad de Chagas, especialmente en el Perú (19) .…”

Salivary and Intestinal Transcriptomes Reveal Differential Gene Expression in Starving, Fed and Trypanosoma cruzi-Infected Rhodnius neglectus

“…The ratio of translatable transcripts in secreted and housekeeping peptides in R. neglectus SGs and INT (Table 1) was similar to that found in the literature for other triatomines. T. brasiliensis (Santos et al, 2007) had the most secreted proteins in SGs, followed by: R. prolixus (Ribeiro et al, 2004), Panstrongylus lignarius (Nevoa et al, 2018), and Triatoma dimidiata (Kato et al, 2010); with housekeeping following in second in the number of transcripts found in SGs of T. dimidiata and R. prolixus (Ribeiro et al, 2004;Kato et al, 2010). In R. neglectus SGs, a higher number of transcripts of proteins classified as housekeeping were also found than in the other classes analyzed (Santiago et al, 2016).…”

“…As in other hematophages, several inhibitors are related to the insect feeding process, such as serine protease inhibitor proteins that participate by antagonizing coagulation and the complement system (Nevoa et al, 2018). Still, there is a predominance of several synthesizing enzymes composing the "other classes" group (Figure 8), whose transcripts are also present among those that are part of intrathecidal metabolic pathways (Figure 12A).…”

“…For the whole digestive and absorption processes to occur more effectively, it is known that SG and INT play important roles in insect humoral immunity, where reactive oxygen species, antiparasitic melanization, and antimicrobial peptides are produced (Ribeiro et al, 2014). Lysozymes and defensins have already been found in the transcriptomes of the gut of R. prolixus (Ribeiro et al, 2016), T. infestans (Buarque et al, 2013), and in the fat body and SG of P. lignarius (Nevoa et al, 2018). Thus, the highest transcriptional expression in the R. neglectus INT occurred in the fed insects, indicating that the microbiota could be under control and may did not overconsume the insect's available nutrients (Supplementary Figure 10A).…”

Entomology in the 21st Century: Tackling Insect Invasions, Promoting Advancements in Technology, and Using Effective Science Communication—2018 Student Debates

“…HTDS can also advance our research related to MUVE. HTDS has allowed us to improve vector monitoring and understanding of vector capacity by providing new means to identify genetic components of vector competence (Nevoa et al 2018), monitor pathogen prevalence in vectors (Batovska et al 2018), and track genetic variation of pathogens (Miles et al 2017, Dumonteil et al 2018). Additionally, HTDS makes possible not only genetic tracking of pest outbreaks to identify outbreak origins (Dupuis et al 2018), but also allows us to identify, monitor, and predict insecticide resistance (Miles et al 2017, Clarkson et al 2018, Dada et al 2018).…”