TY - JOUR
T1 - Plant-feeding phlebotomine sand flies, vectors of leishmaniasis, prefer Cannabis sativa
AU - Abbasi, Ibrahim
AU - Trancoso Lopo de Queiroz, Artur
AU - Kirstein, Oscar David
AU - Nasereddin, Abdelmajeed
AU - Horwitz, Ben Zion
AU - Hailu, Asrat
AU - Salah, Ikram
AU - Mota, Tiago Feitosa
AU - Fraga, Deborah Bittencourt Mothé
AU - Veras, Patricia Sampaio Tavares
AU - Poche, David
AU - Poche, Richard
AU - Yeszhanov, Aidyn
AU - Brodskyn, Cláudia
AU - Torres-Poche, Zaria
AU - Warburg, Alon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/11/13
Y1 - 2018/11/13
N2 - Blood-sucking phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) transmit leishmaniasis as well as arboviral diseases and bartonellosis. Sand fly females become infected with Leishmania parasites and transmit them while imbibing vertebrates’ blood, required as a source of protein for maturation of eggs. In addition, both females and males consume plant-derived sugar meals as a source of energy. Plant meals may comprise sugary solutions such as nectar or honeydew (secreted by plant-sucking homopteran insects), as well as phloem sap that sand flies obtain by piercing leaves and stems with their needle-like mouthparts. Hence, the structure of plant communities can influence the distribution and epidemiology of leishmaniasis. We designed a next-generation sequencing (NGS)–based assay for determining the source of sand fly plant meals, based upon the chloroplast DNA gene ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large chain (rbcL). Here, we report on the predilection of several sand fly species, vectors of leishmaniasis in different parts of the world, for feeding on Cannabis sativa. We infer this preference based on the substantial percentage of sand flies that had fed on C. sativa plants despite the apparent “absence” of these plants from most of the field sites. We discuss the conceivable implications of the affinity of sand flies for C. sativa on their vectorial capacity for Leishmania and the putative exploitation of their attraction to C. sativa for the control of sand fly-borne diseases.
AB - Blood-sucking phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) transmit leishmaniasis as well as arboviral diseases and bartonellosis. Sand fly females become infected with Leishmania parasites and transmit them while imbibing vertebrates’ blood, required as a source of protein for maturation of eggs. In addition, both females and males consume plant-derived sugar meals as a source of energy. Plant meals may comprise sugary solutions such as nectar or honeydew (secreted by plant-sucking homopteran insects), as well as phloem sap that sand flies obtain by piercing leaves and stems with their needle-like mouthparts. Hence, the structure of plant communities can influence the distribution and epidemiology of leishmaniasis. We designed a next-generation sequencing (NGS)–based assay for determining the source of sand fly plant meals, based upon the chloroplast DNA gene ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large chain (rbcL). Here, we report on the predilection of several sand fly species, vectors of leishmaniasis in different parts of the world, for feeding on Cannabis sativa. We infer this preference based on the substantial percentage of sand flies that had fed on C. sativa plants despite the apparent “absence” of these plants from most of the field sites. We discuss the conceivable implications of the affinity of sand flies for C. sativa on their vectorial capacity for Leishmania and the putative exploitation of their attraction to C. sativa for the control of sand fly-borne diseases.
KW - Cannabis sativa
KW - Leishmaniasis
KW - Next-generation sequencing
KW - Phlebotomine sand flies
KW - Plant feeding
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056538804&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1810435115
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1810435115
M3 - Article
C2 - 30373823
AN - SCOPUS:85056538804
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 115
SP - 11790
EP - 11795
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 46
ER -