Reactive oxygen species scavenging by catalase is important for female lutzomyia longipalpis fecundity and mortality

Diaz-Albiter, Hector and Mitford, Roanna and Genta, Fernando A. and Sant'Anna, Mauricio R. V. and Dillon, Rod J. (2011) Reactive oxygen species scavenging by catalase is important for female lutzomyia longipalpis fecundity and mortality. PLoS ONE, 6 (3): e17486.

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Abstract

The phlebotomine sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis is the most important vector of American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL), the disseminated and most serious form of the disease in Central and South America. In the natural environment, most female L. longipalpis are thought to survive for less than 10 days and will feed on blood only once or twice during their lifetime. Successful transmission of parasites occurs when a Leishmania-infected female sand fly feeds on a new host. Knowledge of factors affecting sand fly longevity that lead to a reduction in lifespan could result in a decrease in parasite transmission. Catalase has been found to play a major role in survival and fecundity in many insect species. It is a strong antioxidant enzyme that breaks down toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). Ovarian catalase was found to accumulate in the developing sand fly oocyte from 12 to 48 hours after blood feeding. Catalase expression in ovaries as well as oocyte numbers was found to decrease with age. This reduction was not found in flies when fed on the antioxidant ascorbic acid in the sugar meal, a condition that increased mortality and activation of the prophenoloxidase cascade. RNA interference was used to silence catalase gene expression in female Lu. longipalpis. Depletion of catalase led to a significant increase of mortality and a reduction in the number of developing oocytes produced after blood feeding. These results demonstrate the central role that catalase and ROS play in the longevity and fecundity of phlebotomine sand flies.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
PLoS ONE
Additional Information:
© 2011 Diaz-Albiter et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1100
Subjects:
?? protein oxidative damagedrosophila-melanogasterboophilus-microplussand flieslife-spanvisceral leishmaniasissuperoxide-dismutaseinorganic peroxidesperoxiredoxin geneanopheles-gambiaegeneral agricultural and biological sciencesgeneral biochemistry,genetics ??
ID Code:
50560
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
28 Oct 2011 09:20
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
21 Oct 2024 23:38