| outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis in northern israel. | this study describes a new focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis (cl) due to leishmania tropica, in the galilee region of northern israel. thirty-three cases from 4 villages (northern part) and from the city of tiberias (southern part) have been clinically diagnosed since 1996. parasites from 13 patients and from 6 sand flies were characterized by isoenzyme electrophoresis, 2 immunological methods, and 3 polymerase chain reaction (pcr)-based methods. isolates from the northern part were antigenically ... | 2003 | 14513429 |
| leishmania tropica: intraspecific polymorphisms in lipophosphoglycan correlate with transmission by different phlebotomus species. | lipophosphoglycan (lpg) is a dominant surface molecule of leishmania promastigotes which has been shown to be critical for parasite-sand fly vector interactions. to provide additional evidence for its importance in transmission, the lpgs from three leishmania tropica strains that differ in their capability to infect sand flies, were biochemically characterized. one of these strains, iser/il/98/lrc-l747, was isolated from a phlebotomus sergenti female collected in the judean desert close to jerus ... | 2004 | 15208044 |
| bionomics of phlebotomine sandflies in the galilee focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in northern israel. | the bionomics of phlebotomine sandflies (diptera: psychodidae) were studied for three years (2001-2003) in the galilee focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in northern israel, where the causative leishmania tropica (kinetoplastida: trypanosomatidae) is transmitted by phlebotomus (adlerius) arabicus theodor and phlebotomus (paraphlebotomus) sergenti parrot, comprising 22% and 8%, respectively, of the local sandfly fauna sampled by light traps. the predominant species overall was phlebotomus (larrouss ... | 2004 | 15642009 |
| experimental transmission of leishmania tropica to hyraxes (procavia capensis) by the bite of phlebotomus arabicus. | the ability of the sand fly phlebotomus (adlerius) arabicus to transmit leishmania tropica was studied experimentally using hyraxes (procavia capensis), natural reservoir hosts of the parasite. sand flies became infected with l. tropica after feeding on a lesion of needle-inoculated hyrax. moreover, p. arabicus fed with l. tropica promastigotes transmitted the parasite to hyraxes by bite during a second bloodmeal. although the animals remained asymptomatic after infective sand fly bite, they wer ... | 2006 | 16815725 |
| a lipophosphoglycan-independent development of leishmania in permissive sand flies. | leishmaniases are serious parasitic diseases the etiological organisms of which are transmitted by insect vectors, phlebotominae sand flies. two sand fly species, phlebotomus papatasi and p. sergenti, display remarkable specificity for leishmania parasites they transmit in nature, but many others are broadly permissive to the development of different leishmania species. previous studies have suggested that in 'specific' vectors the successful parasite development is mediated by parasite surface ... | 2007 | 17307009 |
| distinct transmission cycles of leishmania tropica in 2 adjacent foci, northern israel. | transmission of leishmania tropica was studied in 2 adjacent foci in israel where vector populations differ. only phlebotomus sergenti was found infected with l. tropica in the southern focus; p. arabicus was the main vector in the northern focus. rock hyraxes (procavia capensis) were incriminated as reservoir hosts in both foci. l. tropica strains from the northern focus isolated from sand flies, cutaneous leishmaniasis cases, and rock hyraxes were antigenically similar to l. major, and strains ... | 2006 | 17326936 |
| leishmania in sand flies: comparison of quantitative polymerase chain reaction with other techniques to determine the intensity of infection. | quantification of leishmania parasites in the sand fly digestive tract is important for evaluation of vector competence. we compared quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-pcr) with two "traditional" methods, estimation in situ and direct counting with the aid of a hemocytometer, to evaluate their usefulness in different parasite-vector combinations. phlebotomus duboscqi neveu-lemarie and phlebotomus arabicus theodor sand flies were infected with leishmania major and leishmania infantum, resp ... | 2008 | 18283954 |
| analysis of salivary transcripts and antigens of the sand fly phlebotomus arabicus. | sand fly saliva plays an important role in blood feeding and leishmania transmission as it was shown to increase parasite virulence. on the other hand, immunity to salivary components impedes the establishment of infection. therefore, it is most desirable to gain a deeper insight into the composition of saliva in sand fly species which serve as vectors of various forms of leishmaniases. in the present work, we focused on phlebotomus (adlerius) arabicus, which was recently shown to transmit leish ... | 2009 | 19555500 |
| leishmania tropica in rock hyraxes (procavia capensis) in a focus of human cutaneous leishmaniasis. | cutaneous leishmaniasis, caused by leishmania tropica, has recently emerged in urban and rural foci of central and northern israel, and constitutes a major public health concern. rock hyraxes (procavia capensis), the suspected natural reservoir, were trapped in the cutaneous leishmaniasis urban focus of maale adumim in central israel and evaluated for l. tropica infection by real-time kinetoplast dna (kdna) polymerase chain reaction (pcr) and serology. real-time pcr on blood and computerized wes ... | 2010 | 20439960 |
| the life cycle and host specificity of psychodiella sergenti n. sp. and ps. tobbi n. sp. (protozoa: apicomplexa) in sand flies phlebotomus sergenti and ph. tobbi (diptera: psychodidae). | two new gregarines in the recently erected genus psychodiella (formerly ascogregarina), psychodiella sergenti n. sp. and psychodiella tobbi n. sp., are described based on morphology and life cycle observations conducted on larvae and adults of their natural hosts, the sand flies phlebotomus sergenti and phlebotomus tobbi, respectively. the phylogenetic analyses inferred from small subunit ribosomal dna (ssu rdna) sequences indicate the monophyly of newly described species with psychodiella chaga ... | 2010 | 20627106 |
| bionomics of phlebotomine sand flies (diptera: psychodidae) in the province of al-baha, saudi arabia. | the bionomics of phlebotomine sand flies (diptera: psychodidae) were studied for two successive years (january 1996-december 1997) at 12 collecting stations representing six sectors of the province of al-baha, saudi arabia. the predominant species was phlebotomus bergeroti (41.7%), followed by lesser numbers of phlebotomus sergenti (11%), phlebotomus arabicus (10.6%), sergentomyia tiberiadis (10.5%), phlebotomus papatasi (10.2%), sergentomyia antennata (9.6%), phlebotomus alexandri (3%), phlebot ... | 2010 | 21120352 |
| leishmania tropica infection in golden jackals and red foxes, israel. | during a survey of wild canids, internal transcribed spacer 1 real-time pcr and high-resolution melt analysis identified leishmania tropica in samples from jackals and foxes. infection was most prevalent in ear and spleen samples. jackals and foxes may play a role in the spread of zoonotic l. tropica. | 2010 | 21122235 |
| structure and function of a "yellow" protein from saliva of the sand fly lutzomyia longipalpis that confers protective immunity against leishmania major infection. | ljm11, an abundant salivary protein from the sand fly lutzomyia longipalpis, belongs to the insect yellow family of proteins. in this study, we immunized mice with 17 plasmids encoding lu. longiplapis salivary proteins and demonstrated that ljm11 confers protective immunity against leishmania major infection. this protection correlates with a strong induction of a delayed-type hypersensitivity (dth) response following exposure to lu. longipalpis saliva. additionally, splenocytes of exposed mice ... | 2011 | 21795673 |
| An insight into the sialome of Simulium guianense (DIPTERA:SIMULIIDAE), the main vector of River Blindness Disease in Brazil. | ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Little is known about the composition and function of the saliva in black flies such as Simulium guianense, the main vector of river blindness disease in Brazil. The complex salivary potion of hematophagous arthropods counteracts their host's hemostasis, inflammation, and immunity. RESULTS: Transcriptome analysis revealed ubiquitous salivary protein families - such as the Antigen-5, Yellow, Kunitz domain, and serine proteases--in the S. guianense sialotranscriptome. Insec ... | 2011 | 22182526 |
| lysophosphatidylcholine: a novel modulator of trypanosoma cruzi transmission. | lysophosphatidylcholine is a bioactive lipid that regulates a large number of cellular processes and is especially present during the deposition and infiltration of inflammatory cells and deposition of atheromatous plaque. such molecule is also present in saliva and feces of the hematophagous organism rhodnius prolixus, a triatominae bug vector of chagas disease. we have recently demonstrated that lpc is a modulator of trypanosoma cruzi transmission. it acts as a powerful chemoattractant for inf ... | 2012 | 22132309 |
| the thalidomide-binding domain of cereblon defines the cult domain family and is a new member of the β-tent fold. | despite having caused one of the greatest medical catastrophies of the last century through its teratogenic side-effects, thalidomide continues to be an important agent in the treatment of leprosy and cancer. the protein cereblon, which forms an e3 ubiquitin ligase compex together with damaged dna-binding protein 1 (ddb1) and cullin 4a, has been recently indentified as a primary target of thalidomide and its c-terminal part as responsible for binding thalidomide within a domain carrying several ... | 2015 | 25569776 |
| triticum monococcum lines with distinct metabolic phenotypes and phloem-based partial resistance to the bird cherry-oat aphid rhopalosiphum padi. | crop protection is an integral part of establishing food security, by protecting the yield potential of crops. cereal aphids cause yield losses by direct damage and transmission of viruses. some wild relatives of wheat show resistance to aphids but the mechanisms remain unresolved. in order to elucidate the location of the partial resistance to the bird cherry-oat aphid, rhopalosiphum padi, in diploid wheat lines of triticum monococcum, we conducted aphid performance studies using developmental ... | 2016 | 27570248 |
| the salivary secretome of the biting midge, culicoides sonorensis. | culicoides biting midges (diptera: ceratopogonidae) are hematophagous insects with over 1400 species distributed throughout the world. many of these species are of particular agricultural importance as primary vectors of bluetongue and schmallenberg viruses, yet little is known about culicoides genomics and proteomics. detailed studies of members from other blood-feeding dipteran families, including those of mosquito (culicidae) and black fly (simuliidae), have shown that protein components with ... | 2014 | 24949243 |
| an insight into the sialome of blood-feeding nematocera. | within the diptera and outside the suborder brachycera, the blood-feeding habit occurred at least twice, producing the present day sand flies, and the culicomorpha, including the mosquitoes (culicidae), black flies (simulidae), biting midges (ceratopogonidae) and frog feeding flies (corethrellidae). alternatives to this scenario are also discussed. successful blood-feeding requires adaptations to antagonize the vertebrate's mechanisms of blood clotting, platelet aggregation, vasoconstriction, pa ... | 2010 | 20728537 |
| identification of phlebotomine sand flies using one maldi-tof ms reference database and two mass spectrometer systems. | rapid, accurate and high-throughput identification of vector arthropods is of paramount importance in surveillance programmes that are becoming more common due to the changing geographic occurrence and extent of many arthropod-borne diseases. protein profiling by maldi-tof mass spectrometry fulfils these requirements for identification, and reference databases have recently been established for several vector taxa, mostly with specimens from laboratory colonies. | 2015 | 25957576 |
| comparative analysis of salivary gland transcriptomes of phlebotomus orientalis sand flies from endemic and non-endemic foci of visceral leishmaniasis. | in east africa, phlebotomus orientalis serves as the main vector of leishmania donovani, the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (vl). phlebotomus orientalis is present at two distant localities in ethiopia; addis zemen where vl is endemic and melka werer where transmission of vl does not occur. to find out whether the difference in epidemiology of vl is due to distant compositions of p. orientalis saliva we established colonies from addis zemen and melka werer, analyzed and compared the t ... | 2014 | 24587463 |
| molecular and immunogenic properties of apyrase sp01b and d7-related sp04 recombinant salivary proteins of phlebotomus perniciosus from madrid, spain. | sand fly salivary proteins are on the spotlight to become vaccine candidates against leishmaniasis and to markers of exposure to sand fly bites due to the host immune responses they elicit. working with the whole salivary homogenate entails serious drawbacks such as the need for maintaining sand fly colonies and the laborious task of glands dissection. in order to overcome these difficulties, producing recombinant proteins of different vectors has become a major task. in this study, a cdna libra ... | 2013 | 24171166 |
| updating the salivary gland transcriptome of phlebotomus papatasi (tunisian strain): the search for sand fly-secreted immunogenic proteins for humans. | sand fly saliva plays an important role in both blood feeding and outcome of leishmania infection. a cellular immune response against a phlebotomus papatasi salivary protein was shown to protect rodents against leishmania major infection. in humans, p. papatasi salivary proteins induce a systemic cellular immune response as well as a specific antisaliva humoral immune response, making these salivary proteins attractive targets as markers of exposure for this leishmania vector. surprisingly, the ... | 2012 | 23139741 |
| salivary gland transcriptomes and proteomes of phlebotomus tobbi and phlebotomus sergenti, vectors of leishmaniasis. | phlebotomus tobbi is a vector of leishmania infantum, and p. sergenti is a vector of leishmania tropica. le. infantum and le. tropica typically cause visceral or cutaneous leishmaniasis, respectively, but le. infantum strains transmitted by p. tobbi can cause cutaneous disease. to better understand the components and possible implications of sand fly saliva in leishmaniasis, the transcriptomes of the salivary glands (sgs) of these two sand fly species were sequenced, characterized and compared. | 2012 | 22629480 |
| the role of leishmania proteophosphoglycans in sand fly transmission and infection of the mammalian host. | leishmania are transmitted by the bite of their sand fly vector and this has a significant influence on the virulence of the resulting infection. from our studies into the interaction between parasite, vector, and host we have uncovered an important missing ingredient during leishmania transmission. leishmania actively adapt their sand fly hosts into efficient vectors by secreting promastigote secretory gel (psg), a proteophosphoglycan (ppg)-rich, mucin-like gel which accumulates in sand fly gut ... | 2012 | 22754550 |
| molecular diversity between salivary proteins from new world and old world sand flies with emphasis on bichromomyia olmeca, the sand fly vector of leishmania mexicana in mesoamerica. | sand fly saliva has been shown to have proteins with potent biological activities, salivary proteins that can be used as biomarkers of vector exposure, and salivary proteins that are candidate vaccines against different forms of leishmaniasis. sand fly salivary gland transcriptomic approach has contributed significantly to the identification and characterization of many of these salivary proteins from important leishmania vectors; however, sand fly vectors in some regions of the world are still ... | 2016 | 27409591 |
| first detection of leishmania tropica dna and trypanosoma species in sergentomyia sand flies (diptera: psychodidae) from an outbreak area of cutaneous leishmaniasis in ghana. | leishmania major and an uncharacterized species have been reported from human patients in a cutaneous leishmaniasis (cl) outbreak area in ghana. reports from the area indicate the presence of anthropophilic sergentomyia species that were found with leishmania dna. | 2014 | 24516676 |
| environmental factors underlying spatial patterns of sand flies (diptera: psychodidae) associated with leishmaniasis in southern sinai, egypt. | although leishmania major is endemic in parts of the sinai of egypt, the ecology and distribution of leishmania sand fly vectors in southern sinai has not been well characterized. accordingly, additional sand fly samples were obtained at 41 sites in the southern sinai region during 1996-1997, and analyzed to improve the characterization of risk of sand fly-borne pathogens. using a geographic information system (gis), species-specific spatial distributions that might suggest zoonotic cutaneous le ... | 2012 | 22410540 |