Experimental Transmission of Leishmania infantum by Two Major Vectors: A Comparison between a Viscerotropic and a Dermotropic Strain

We quantified Leishmania infantum parasites transmitted by natural vectors for the first time. Both L. infantum strains studied, dermotropic CUK3 and viscerotropic IMT373, developed well in Phlebotomus perniciosus and Lutzomyia longipalpis. They produced heavy late-stage infection and colonized the stomodeal valve, which is a prerequisite for successful transmission. Infected sand fly females, and especially those that transmit parasites, feed significantly longer on the host (1.5–1.8 times) than non-transmitting females. Quantitative PCR revealed that P. perniciosus harboured more CUK3 strain parasites, while in L. longipalpis the intensity of infection was higher for the IMT373 strain. However, in both sand fly species the parasite load transmitted was higher for the strain with dermal tropism (CUK3). All but one sand fly female infected by the IMT373 strain transmitted less than 600 promastigotes; in contrast, 29% of L. longipalpis and 14% of P. perniciosus infected with the CUK3 strain transmitted more than 1000 parasites. The parasite number transmitted by individual sand flies ranged from 4 up to 4.19×104 promastigotes; thus, the maximal natural dose found was still about 250 times lower than the experimental challenge dose used in previous studies. This finding emphasizes the importance of determining the natural infective dose for the development of an accurate experimental model useful for the evaluation of new drugs and vaccines

The biting midge Culicoides sonorensis (Diptera Ceratopogonidae) is capable of developing late stage infections of Leishmania enriettii

BACKGROUND: Despite their importance in animal and human health, the epidemiology of species of the Leishmania enriettii complex remains poorly understood, including the identity of their biological vectors. Biting midges of the genus Forcipomyia (Lasiohelea) have been implicated in the transmission of a member of the L. enriettii complex in Australia, but the far larger and more widespread genus Culicoides has not been investigated for the potential to include vectors to date. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Females from colonies of the midges Culicoides nubeculosus Meigen and C. sonorensis Wirth & Jones and the sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis Lutz & Nevia (Diptera: Psychodidae) were experimentally infected with two different species of Leishmania, originating from Australia (Leishmania sp. AM-2004) and Brazil (Leishmania enriettii). In addition, the infectivity of L. enriettii infections generated in guinea pigs and golden hamsters for Lu. longipalpis and C. sonorensis was tested by xenodiagnosis. Development of L. enriettii in Lu. longipalpis was relatively poor compared to other Leishmania species in this permissive vector. Culicoides nubeculosus was not susceptible to infection by parasites from the L. enriettii complex. In contrast, C. sonorensis developed late stage infections with colonization of the thoracic midgut and the stomodeal valve. In hamsters, experimental infection with L. enriettii led only to mild symptoms, while in guinea pigs L. enriettii grew aggressively, producing large, ulcerated, tumour-like lesions. A high proportion of C. sonorensis (up to 80%) feeding on the ears and nose of these guinea pigs became infected. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We demonstrate that L. enriettii can develop late stage infections in the biting midge Culicoides sonorensis. This midge was found to be susceptible to L. enriettii to a similar degree as Lutzomyia longipalpis, the vector of Leishmania infantum in South America. Our results support the hypothesis that some biting midges could be natural vectors of the L. enriettii complex because of their vector competence, although not Culicoides sonorensis itself, which is not sympatric, and midges should be assessed in the field while searching for vectors of related Leishmania species including L. martiniquensis and "L. siamensis"

Host competence of the African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania donovani from Ethiopia and L. (Mundinia) sp. from Ghana

Visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani is regarded as mostly anthroponotic, but a role for animal reservoir hosts in transmission has been suggested in East Africa. Field studies in this region have shown the presence of this parasite in several mammalian species, including rodents of the genera Arvicanthis and Mastomys. Further, the natural reservoirs of Leishmania (Mundinia) sp. causing human cutaneous disease in Ghana, West Africa, are unknown. This study assessed the potential role of the Sub-Saharan rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis as hosts of L. donovani and L. sp. from Ghana, based on experimental infections of animals and xenodiagnoses. The distribution and load of parasites were determined post mortem using qPCR from the blood, skin and viscera samples. The attractiveness of Arvicanthis and Mastomys to Phlebotomus orientalis was tested by pair-wise comparisons. None of the animals inoculated with L. donovani were infectious to P. orientalis females, although, in some animals, parasites were detected by PCR even 30 weeks post infection. Skin infections were characterized by low numbers of parasites while high parasite burdens were present in spleen, liver and lymph nodes only. Therefore, wild Arvicanthis and Mastomys found infected with L. donovani, should be considered parasite sinks rather than parasite reservoirs. This is indirectly supported also by results of host choice experiments with P. orientalis in which females preferred humans over both Arvicanthis and Mastomys, and their feeding rates on rodents ranged from 1.4 to 5.8% only. Therefore, the involvement of these rodents in transmission of L. donovani by P. orientalis is very unlikely. Similarly, poor survival of Leishmania parasites in the studied rodents and negative results of xenodiagnostic experiments do not support the involvement of Arvicanthis and Mastomys spp. in the transmission cycle of L. sp. from Ghana

Leishmania donovani development in Phlebotomus argentipes: comparison of promastigote- and amastigote-initiated infections.

Leishmania parasites alternate in their life cycle between promastigote stages that develop in the gut of phlebotomine sand flies and amastigotes residing inside phagocytic cells of vertebrate hosts. For experimental infections of sand flies, promastigotes are frequently used as this way of infection is technically easier although ingestion of promastigotes by sand flies is unnatural. Here we aimed to answer a critical question, to what extent do promastigote-initiated experimental infections differ from those initiated with intracellular amastigotes. We performed side-by-side comparison of Leishmania development in Phlebotomus argentipes females infected alternatively with promastigotes from log-phase cultures or amastigotes grown ex vivo in macrophages. Early stage infections showed substantial differences in parasite load and representation of morphological forms. The differences disappeared along the maturation of infections; both groups developed heavy late-stage infections with colonization of the stomodeal valve, uniform representation of infective metacyclics and equal efficiency of transmission. The results showed that studies focusing on early phase of Leishmania development in sand flies should be initiated with intracellular amastigotes. However, the use of promastigote stages for sand fly infections does not alter significantly the final outcome of Leishmania donovani development in P. argentipes and their transmissibility to the vertebrate host

The Phlebotomus papatasi systemic transcriptional response to trypanosomatid-contaminated blood does not differ from the non-infected blood meal

Background: Leishmaniasis, caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania, is a disease that affects up to 8 million people worldwide. Parasites are transmitted to human and animal hosts through the bite of an infected sand fly. Novel strategies for disease control require a better understanding of the key step for transmission, namely the establishment of infection inside the fly. Methods: The aim of this work was to identify sand fly systemic transcriptomic signatures associated with Leishmania infection. We used next generation sequencing to describe the transcriptome of whole Phlebotomus papatasi sand flies when fed with blood alone (control) or with blood containing one of three trypanosomatids: Leishmania major, L. donovani and Herpetomonas muscarum, the latter being a parasite not transmitted to humans. Results: Of the trypanosomatids studied, only L. major was able to successfully establish an infection in the host P. papatasi. However, the transcriptional signatures observed after each parasite-contaminated blood meal were not specific to success or failure of a specific infection and they did not differ from each other. The transcriptional signatures were also indistinguishable after a non-contaminated blood meal. Conclusions: The results imply that sand flies perceive Leishmania as just one feature of their microbiome landscape and that any strategy to tackle transmission should focus on the response towards the blood meal rather than parasite establishment. Alternatively, Leishmania could suppress host responses. These results will generate new thinking around the concept of stopping transmission by controlling the parasite inside the insect

Host competence of African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania major

Cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania major is a typical zoonosis circulating in rodents. In Sub-Saharan Africa the reservoirs remain to be identified, although L. major has been detected in several rodent species including members of the genera Arvicanthis and Mastomys. However, differentiation of true reservoir hosts from incidental hosts requires in-depth studies both in the field and in the laboratory, with the best method for testing the infectiousness of hosts to biting vectors being xenodiagnosis. Here we studied experimental infections of three L. major strains in Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis; the infections were initiated either with sand fly-derived or with culture-derived Leishmania promastigotes. Inoculated rodents were monitored for several months and tested by xenodiagnoses for their infectiousness to Phlebotomus duboscqi, the natural vector of L. major in Sub-Saharan Africa. The distribution and load of parasites were determined post mortem using qPCR from the blood, skin and viscera samples. The attractiveness of Arvicanthis and Mastomys to P. duboscqi was tested by pair-wise comparisons. Three L. major strains used significantly differed in infectivity: the Middle Eastern strain infected a low proportion of rodents, while two Sub-Saharan isolates (LV109, LV110) infected a high percentage of animals and LV110 also produced higher parasite loads in all host species. All three rodent species maintained parasites of the LV109 strain for 20-25 weeks and were able to infect P. duboscqi without apparent health complications: infected animals showed only temporary swellings or changes of pigmentation at the site of inoculation. However, the higher infection rates, more generalized distribution of parasites and longer infectiousness period to sand flies in M. natalensis suggest that this species plays the more important reservoir role in the life cycle of L. major in Sub-Saharan Africa. Arvicanthis species may serve as potential reservoirs in seasons/periods of low abundance of Mastomys

Lipophosphoglycan Polymorphisms Do Not Affect \u3cem\u3eLeishmania amazonensis\u3c/em\u3e Development in the Permissive Vectors \u3cem\u3eLutzomyia migonei\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eLutzomyia longipalpis\u3c/em\u3e

Background: Lipophosphoglycan (LPG) is a dominant surface molecule of Leishmaniapromastigotes. Its species-specific polymorphisms are found mainly in the sugars that branch off the conserved Gal(β1,4)Man(α1)-PO4 backbone of repeat units. Leishmania amazonensis is one of the most important species causing human cutaneous leishmaniasis in the New World. Here, we describe LPG intraspecific polymorphisms in two Le. amazonensis reference strains and their role during the development in three sand fly species. Results: Strains isolated from Lutzomyia flaviscutellata (PH8) and from a human patient (Josefa) displayed structural polymorphism in the LPG repeat units, possessing side chains with 1 and 2 β-glucose or 1 to 3 β-galactose, respectively. Both strains successfully infected permissive vectors Lutzomyia longipalpis and Lutzomyia migonei and could colonize their stomodeal valve and differentiate into metacyclic forms. Despite bearing terminal galactose residues on LPG, Josefa could not sustain infection in the restrictive vector Phlebotomus papatasi. Conclusions: LPG polymorphisms did not affect the ability of Le. amazonensis to develop late-stage infections in permissive vectors. However, the non-establishment of infection in Ph. papatasi by Josefa strain suggested other LPG-independent factors in this restrictive vector

Genetic dissection of a Leishmania flagellar proteome demonstrates requirement for directional motility in sand fly infections

The protozoan parasite Leishmania possesses a single flagellum, which is remodelled during the parasite’s life cycle from a long motile flagellum in promastigote forms in the sand fly to a short immotile flagellum in amastigotes residing in mammalian phagocytes. This study examined the protein composition and in vivo function of the promastigote flagellum. Protein mass spectrometry and label free protein enrichment testing of isolated flagella and deflagellated cell bodies defined a flagellar proteome for L. mexicana promastigote forms (available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD011057). This information was used to generate a CRISPR-Cas9 knockout library of 100 mutants to screen for flagellar defects. This first large-scale knockout screen in a Leishmania sp. identified 56 mutants with altered swimming speed (52 reduced and 4 increased) and defined distinct mutant categories (faster swimmers, slower swimmers, slow uncoordinated swimmers and paralysed cells, including aflagellate promastigotes and cells with curled flagella and disruptions of the paraflagellar rod). Each mutant was tagged with a unique 17-nt barcode, providing a simple barcode sequencing (bar-seq) method for measuring the relative fitness of L. mexicana mutants in vivo. In mixed infections of the permissive sand fly vector Lutzomyia longipalpis, paralysed promastigotes and uncoordinated swimmers were severely diminished in the fly after defecation of the bloodmeal. Subsequent examination of flies infected with a single paralysed mutant lacking the central pair protein PF16 or an uncoordinated swimmer lacking the axonemal protein MBO2 showed that these promastigotes did not reach anterior regions of the fly alimentary tract. These data show that L. mexicana need directional motility for successful colonisation of sand flies

Central Asian Rodents as Model Animals for Leishmania major and Leishmania donovani Research.

The clinical manifestation of leishmaniases depends on parasite species, host genetic background, and immune response. Manifestations of human leishmaniases are highly variable, ranging from self-healing skin lesions to fatal visceral disease. The scope of standard model hosts is insufficient to mimic well the wide disease spectrum, which compels the introduction of new model animals for leishmaniasis research. In this article, we study the susceptibility of three Asian rodent species (Cricetulus griseus, Lagurus lagurus, and Phodopus sungorus) to Leishmania major and L. donovani. The external manifestation of the disease, distribution, as well as load of parasites and infectiousness to natural sand fly vectors, were compared with standard models, BALB/c mice and Mesocricetus auratus. No significant differences were found in disease outcomes in animals inoculated with sand fly- or culture-derived parasites. All Asian rodent species were highly susceptible to L. major. Phodopus sungorus showed the non-healing phenotype with the progressive growth of ulcerative lesions and massive parasite loads. Lagurus lagurus and C. griseus represented the healing phenotype, the latter with high infectiousness to vectors, mimicking best the character of natural reservoir hosts. Both, L. lagurus and C. griseus were also highly susceptible to L. donovani, having wider parasite distribution and higher parasite loads and infectiousness than standard model animals