Biological and Molecular Characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi Strains from Four States of Brazil

Abstract

Chagas disease affects between six and seven million people. Its etiological agent, , is classified into six discrete typing units (DTUs). The biological study of 11 strains presented here included four parameters: growth kinetics, parasitemia curves, rate of macrophage infection, and serology to evaluate IgM, total IgG, IgG1, IgG2a, and IgG3. Sequencing of small subunit of ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA)was performed and the strains were classified into three DTUs. When their growth in liver infusion tryptose medium was represented in curves, differences among the strains could be noted. The parasitemia profile varied among the strains from the TcI, TcII, and TcIII groups, and the 11 strains produced distinct parasitemia levels in infected BALB/c. The TcI group presented the highest rate of macrophage infection by amastigotes, followed by TcII and TcIII. Reactivity to immunoglobulins was observed in the TcI, TcII, and TcIII; all the animals infected with the different strains of showed anti- antibodies. The molecular study presented here resulted in the classification of the strains into the TcI (Bolivia, T lenti, Tm, SC90); TcII (Famema, SC96, SI8, Y); and TcIII (QMM3, QMM5, SI5) groups. These biological and molecular results from 11 strains clarified the factors involved in the biology of the parasite and its hosts. The collection of triatomine (vector) species, and the study of geographic distribution, as well as biological and molecular characterization of the parasite, will contribute to the reporting and surveillance measures in Brazilian states.

Role of FcγRIII in the nasal cavity of BALB/c mice in the primary amebic meningoencephalitis protection model

“…The response of the different subclasses of IgG can be found in the T-dependent and T-independent response (Deenick et al 1999) against a wide variety of pathogens such as bacteria (Sidorin & Solov'eva 2011), viruses (Honda-Okubo et al 2015), and protozoa (Carrasco-Yepez et al 2014Khomkhum et al 2019;Ribeiro et al 2018), which led to the recent postulation of the quartet model theory, suggesting that the co-expression of the subclasses of IgG achieves harmony instead of competition for an effective response to pathogens (Collins 2016), explaining the varied response obtained with the different specific IgG subclasses against N. fowleri that we found in our results.…”

Chagas Cardiomyopathy: From Romaña Sign to Heart Failure and Sudden Cardiac Death

“…TcI is the most abundant and widely distributed in America and is the principal cause of CD in Central America and the northern countries in South America. Simultaneously, TcII, TcV, and TcVI are more prevalent in southern South America [ 24 , 26 , 27 ].…”

Cell Culture and Maintenance of the Evolutionary Forms of Trypanosoma cruzi for Studies of Parasitic Biology

“…Our research group has been using the T. cruzi cultures to evaluate the potential of new compounds with antiparasitic activity for the treatment of Chagas disease [25]. The cultivation methods also allow to isolate and characterize the circulating T. cruzi genotypes, present in triatomines captured in the natural environment of transmission of Chagas disease [26]. In addition, other robust molecular and structural biology tools can be applied to the study of the biology of T. cruzi using cell culture, namely, functional genomic and proteomic studies [27,28] and structural cryo-microscopy [29].…”