Induction of trypanosoma cruzi metacyclogenesis in the gut of the hematophagous insect vector, rhodnius prolixus, by hemoglobin and peptides carrying αD-globin sequences

Eloi S. Garcia, Marcelo S. Gonzalez, Patricia De Azambuja, Francisco E. Baralle, Diego Fraidenraich, Héctor N. Torres, Mirtha M. Flawia

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Abstract

Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan responsible for the American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease), multiplies and differentiates in the gut of triatomine insect vectors. The effects of hemoglobin and synthetic peptides carrying αD-globin fragments on both the growth and the transformation of T. cruzi epimastigotes (noninfective) into metacyclic trypomastigotes (infective forms) were studied. This differentiation in the insect′s gut is expressed when hemoglobin and synthetic peptides corresponding to residues 30-49 and 35-73 of the αD-globin were added to the plasma diet. However, synthetic peptide 41-73 does not induce differentiation of epimastigotes even in the presence of the two former synthetic peptides. Thus, these data delineate an unusual molecular mechanism which modulates the dynamics of transformation of epimastigotes into metacyclic trypomastigotes in the triatomine vector′s gut.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number71116
Pages (from-to)255-261
Number of pages7
JournalExperimental Parasitology
Volume81
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1995
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Parasitology
  • Immunology
  • Infectious Diseases

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