Journal
CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 19, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/cmi.12755
Keywords
Leishmania; microbiota; osmotic stress; sand flies; vector competence
Categories
Funding
- Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
- CAPES (Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior)
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For many arthropod vectors, the diverse bacteria and fungi that inhabit the gut can negatively impact pathogen colonization. Our attempts to exploit antibiotic treatment of colonized Phlebotomus duboscqi sand flies in order to improve their vector competency for Leishmania major resulted instead in flies that were refractory to the development of transmissible infections due to the inability of the parasite to survive and to colonize the anterior midgut with infective, metacyclic stage promastigotes. The parasite survival and development defect could be overcome by feeding the flies on different symbiont bacteria but not by feeding them on bacterial supernatants or replete medium. The inhibitory effect of the dysbiosis was moderated by lowering the concentration of sucrose (<30% w/v) used in the sugar feeds to maintain the colony. Exposure of promastigotes to 30% sucrose was lethal to the parasite in vitro. Confocal imaging revealed that the killing in vivo was confined to promastigotes that had migrated to the anterior plug region, corresponding to the highest concentrations of sucrose. The data suggest that sucrose utilization by the microbiota is essential to promote the appropriate osmotic conditions required for the survival of infective stage promastigotes in vivo.
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