Evidence for genetic differentiation at the microgeographic scale in Phlebotomus papatasi populations from Sudan

Abstract

BackgroundCutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in Sudan. It is caused by Leishmania major parasites and transmitted by Phlebotomus papatasi sandflies. Recently, uncommon clinical manifestations of CL have been reported. Moreover, L. donovani parasites that cause Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) have been isolated from CL lesions of some patients who contracted the disease in Khartoum State, Central Sudan with no history of travelling to VL endemic sites on south-eastern Sudan. Because different clinical manifestations and the parasite behaviour could be related to genetic differentiation, or even sub-structuring within sandfly vector populations, a population genetic study was conducted on P. papatasi populations collected from different localities in Khartoum State known for their uncommon CL cases and characterized by contrasting environmental conditions.MethodsA set of seven microsatellite loci was used to investigate the population structure of P. papatasi samples collected from different localities in Khartoum State, Central Sudan. Populations from Kassala State, Eastern Sudan and Egypt were also included in the analyses as outgroups. The level of genetic diversity and genetic differentiation among natural populations of P. papatasi was determined using FST statistics and Bayesian assignments.ResultsGenetic analyses revealed significant genetic differentiation (FST) between the Sudanese and the Egyptian populations. Within the Sudanese P. papatasi populations, one population from Gerif West, Khartoum State, exhibited significant genetic differentiation from all other populations including those collected as near as 22 km.ConclusionThe significant genetic differentiation of Gerif West P. papatasi population from other Sudanese populations may have important implication for the epidemiology of leishmaniasis in Khartoum State and needs to be further investigated. Primarily, it could be linked to the unique location of Gerif West which is confined by the River Nile and its tributaries that may act as a natural barrier for gene flow between this site and the other rural sites. The observed high migration rates and lack of genetic differentiation among the other P. papatasi populations could be attributed to the continuous human and cattle movement between these localities.

Molecular systematics applied to Phlebotomine sandflies: Review and perspectives

“…-Algeria (Bounamous et al, 2008Depaquit et al, 2008bDepaquit et al, , 2013Depaquit et al, , 2014Franco et al, 2010), -Benin , -Burkina Faso: (Depaquit et al, 2005a(Depaquit et al, , 2008b, -Cameroon , -the Comoros (Randrianambinintsoa et al, 2012), -Egypt (Booth et al, 1991;Esseghir et al, 1997;Depaquit et al, 2000Depaquit et al, , 2008bDepaquit et al, , 2014Esseghir and Ready, 2000;Elnaiem et al, 2005;Hamarsheh et al, 2007;Khalid et al, 2012;Minter et al, 2013), -Ethiopia (Esseghir et al, 1997;Esseghir and Ready, 2000;Seblova et al, 2013), -the Republic of Guinea , -Kenya (Mukhopadhyay et al, 2000;Esseghir et al, 1997;Depaquit et al, 1998Depaquit et al, , 2000Depaquit et al, , 2008bEsseghir and Ready, 2000), -Madagascar (Depaquit et al, 2004a(Depaquit et al, ,b, 2007(Depaquit et al, , 2008aRandrianambinintsoa et al, 2012, -Mali (Khalid et al, 2010), -Morocco (Esseghir et al, 1997;Di Muccio et al, 2000;Pesson et al, 2004;Yahia et al, 2004;Hamarsheh et al, 2007;Moin-Vaziri et al, 2007a;Baron et al, 2008;Franco et al, 2010;…”

“…A few studies have been carried out on microsatellites Watts et al, 2005;Zhang et al, 2009Zhang et al, , 2013Mahamdallie et al, 2010;Khalid et al, 2012;Santos et al, 2013) and the majority of studies focuses on the amplification of one or several molecular markers.…”

“…The four species of the subgenus Phlebotomus have been sequenced: Phlebotomus papatasi (Booth et al, 1991(Booth et al, , 1994Esseghir et al, 1997;Aransay et al, 2000;Depaquit et al, 2000Depaquit et al, , 2005bDepaquit et al, , 2008bDi Muccio et al, 2000;Esseghir and Ready, 2000;Mukhopadhyay et al, 2000;Elnaiem et al, 2005;Hamarsheh et al, 2007;Khalid et al, 2010Khalid et al, , 2012Manonmani et al, 2010;Belen et al, 2011;Kruger et al, 2011;Latrofa et al, 2011a,b;Tiwary et al, 2012;Minter et al, 2013), Phlebotomus duboscqi (Booth et al, 1991;Esseghir et al, 1997;Depaquit et al, 1998Depaquit et al, , 1999Depaquit et al, , 2000Depaquit et al, , 2008bEsseghir and Ready, 2000;Mukhopadhyay et al, 2000;Lins et al, 2002;Mazzoni et al, 2002;Khalid et al, 2010), Phlebotomus bergeroti (Esseghir et al, 1997;Esseghir and Ready, 2000;Depaquit et al, 2008b;Khalid et al, 2010;Bounamous et al, 2014) and Phlebotomus salehi (Depaquit et al, 2008b).…”

“…A total of 55 papers comparing different species or subspecies within a genus has been recorded (Booth et al, 1991(Booth et al, , 1994Adamson et al, 1993;Maingon et al, 1993;Esseghir et al, 1997;Marcondes et al, 1997;Aransay et al, 2000;Depaquit et al, 2000Depaquit et al, , 2005bDepaquit et al, , 2008aDepaquit et al, ,b, 2014Di Muccio et al, 2000;Esseghir and Ready, 2000;Mukhopadhyay et al, 2000;Soto et al, 2001;Lins et al, 2002;Mazzoni et al, 2002Mazzoni et al, , 2006Mazzoni et al, , 2008Testa et al, 2002;Torgerson et al, 2003;Beati et al, 2004;Pesson et al, 2004;Moin-Vaziri et al, 2007a;Bounamous et al, 2008Bounamous et al, , 2014Perez-Doria et al, 2008a;Absavaran et al, 2009;Kuwahara et al, 2009;Vivero et al, 2009;Azpurua et al, 2010;Franco et al, 2010;Khalid et al, 2010Khalid et al, , 2012Parvizi et al, 2010a,b;Belen et al, 2011;Kruger et al, 2011;Latrofa et al, 2011a,b;Kumar et al, 2012;Randrianambinintsoa et al, 2012Jafari et al, 2013;…”

Concomitant Infection withLeishmania donovaniandL. majorin Single Ulcers of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients from Sudan

“…Recent studies have demonstrated the presence of genetically different populations of P. papatasi in Sudan [43] that could be able to transmit different strain/hybrids. Moreover, high polymorphism has been attributed to L. major causing cutaneous diseases in Iran [44].…”