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Silva CAO, Alves SDS, Rodrigues BDC, Fraga Egidio JA, Ribeiro L, Logullo C, Mury FB, Santos DDG, Portal T, Monteiro-de-Barros C, Roberto da Silva J, Nepomuceno-Silva JL, Nunes-da-Fonseca R. The mlpt smORF gene is essential for digestive physiology and molting during nymphal stages in the kissing bug Rhodnius prolixus. INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2024; 172:104154. [PMID: 38972513 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2024.104154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2023] [Revised: 07/04/2024] [Accepted: 07/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/09/2024]
Abstract
Chagas disease affects around 8 million people globally, with Latin America bearing approximately 10,000 deaths each year. Combatting the disease relies heavily on vector control methods, necessitating the identification of new targets. Within insect genomes, genes harboring small open reading frames (smORFs - < 100 amino acids) present numerous potential candidates. In our investigation, we elucidate the pivotal role of the archetypal smORF-containing gene, mille-pattes/polished-rice/tarsalless (mlpt/pri/tal), in the post-embryonic development of the kissing bug Rhodnius prolixus. Injection of double-stranded RNA targeting mlpt (dsmlpt) during nymphal stages yields a spectrum of phenotypes hindering post-embryonic growth. Notably, fourth or fifth stage nymphs subjected to dsmlpt do not undergo molting. These dsmlpt nymphs display heightened mRNA levels of JHAMT-like and EPOX-like, enzymes putatively involved in the juvenile hormone (JH) pathway, alongside increased expression of the transcription factor Kr-h1, indicating changes in the hormonal control. Histological examination reveals structural alterations in the hindgut and external cuticle of dsmlpt nymphs compared to control (dsGFP) counterparts. Furthermore, significant changes in the vector's digestive physiology were observed, with elevated hemozoin and glucose levels in the posterior midgut of dsmlpt nymphs. Importantly, dsmlpt nymphs exhibit impaired metacyclogenesis of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, underscoring the crucial role of proper gut organization in parasite differentiation. Thus, our findings constitute the first evidence of a smORF-containing gene's regulatory influence on vector physiology, parasitic cycle, and disease transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina Azevedo Oliveira Silva
- Laboratório Integrado de Bioquímica Hatisaburo Masuda (LIBHM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil; Laboratório Integrado de Ciências Morfofuncionais (LICM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - Sandy da Silveira Alves
- Laboratório Integrado de Biociências Translacionais (LIBT), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - Bruno da Costa Rodrigues
- Laboratório Integrado de Ciências Morfofuncionais (LICM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - Jonatha Anderson Fraga Egidio
- Laboratório Integrado de Ciências Morfofuncionais (LICM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - Lupis Ribeiro
- Laboratório Integrado de Ciências Morfofuncionais (LICM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - Carlos Logullo
- Laboratório Integrado de Bioquímica Hatisaburo Masuda (LIBHM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular - INCT-EM, Brazil
| | - Flavia Borges Mury
- Laboratório Integrado de Biociências Translacionais (LIBT), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular - INCT-EM, Brazil
| | - Daniele das Graças Santos
- Laboratório Integrado de Ciências Morfofuncionais (LICM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - Taynan Portal
- Laboratório Integrado de Biociências Translacionais (LIBT), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - Cintia Monteiro-de-Barros
- Laboratório Integrado de Biociências Translacionais (LIBT), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - José Roberto da Silva
- Laboratório Integrado de Bioquímica Hatisaburo Masuda (LIBHM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular - INCT-EM, Brazil
| | - José Luciano Nepomuceno-Silva
- Laboratório Integrado de Bioquímica Hatisaburo Masuda (LIBHM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil
| | - Rodrigo Nunes-da-Fonseca
- Laboratório Integrado de Ciências Morfofuncionais (LICM), Instituto de Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (NUPEM/UFRJ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Macaé, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular - INCT-EM, Brazil.
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García-Huertas P, Cuesta-Astroz Y, Araque-Ruiz V, Cardona-Castro N. Transcriptional changes during metacyclogenesis of a Colombian Trypanosoma cruzi strain. Parasitol Res 2023; 122:625-634. [PMID: 36567399 DOI: 10.1007/s00436-022-07766-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
During its life cycle, Trypanosoma cruzi undergoes physiological modifications in order to adapt to insect vector and mammalian host conditions. Metacyclogenesis is essential, as the parasite acquires the ability to infect a variety of mammalian species, including humans, in which pathology is caused. In this work, the transcriptomes of metacyclic trypomastigotes and epimastigotes were analyzed in order to identify differentially expressed genes that may be involved in metacyclogenesis. Toward this end, in vitro induction of metacyclogenesis was performed and metacyclic trypomastigotes obtained. RNA-Seq was performed on triplicate samples of epimastigotes and metacyclic trypomastigotes. Differential gene expression analysis showed 513 genes, of which 221 were upregulated and 292 downregulated in metacyclic trypomastigotes. The analysis showed that these genes are related to biological processes relevant in metacyclogenesis. Within these processes, we found that most of the genes associated with infectivity and gene expression regulation were upregulated in metacyclic trypomastigotes, while genes involved in cell division, DNA replication, differentiation, cytoskeleton, and metabolism were mainly downregulated. The participation of some of these genes in T. cruzi metacyclogenesis is of interest, as they may be used as potential therapeutic targets in the design of new drugs for Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola García-Huertas
- Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical, Universidad CES, CP 055450, Sabaneta, Antioquia, Colombia.
| | - Yesid Cuesta-Astroz
- Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical, Universidad CES, CP 055450, Sabaneta, Antioquia, Colombia
| | - Valentina Araque-Ruiz
- Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical, Universidad CES, CP 055450, Sabaneta, Antioquia, Colombia
| | - Nora Cardona-Castro
- Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical, Universidad CES, CP 055450, Sabaneta, Antioquia, Colombia
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Shanmugasundram A, Starns D, Böhme U, Amos B, Wilkinson PA, Harb OS, Warrenfeltz S, Kissinger JC, McDowell MA, Roos DS, Crouch K, Jones AR. TriTrypDB: An integrated functional genomics resource for kinetoplastida. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2023; 17:e0011058. [PMID: 36656904 PMCID: PMC9888696 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 12/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Parasitic diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites are a burden to public health throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world. TriTrypDB (https://tritrypdb.org) is a free online resource for data mining of genomic and functional data from these kinetoplastid parasites and is part of the VEuPathDB Bioinformatics Resource Center (https://veupathdb.org). As of release 59, TriTrypDB hosts 83 kinetoplastid genomes, nine of which, including Trypanosoma brucei brucei TREU927, Trypanosoma cruzi CL Brener and Leishmania major Friedlin, undergo manual curation by integrating information from scientific publications, high-throughput assays and user submitted comments. TriTrypDB also integrates transcriptomic, proteomic, epigenomic, population-level and isolate data, functional information from genome-wide RNAi knock-down and fluorescent tagging, and results from automated bioinformatics analysis pipelines. TriTrypDB offers a user-friendly web interface embedded with a genome browser, search strategy system and bioinformatics tools to support custom in silico experiments that leverage integrated data. A Galaxy workspace enables users to analyze their private data (e.g., RNA-sequencing, variant calling, etc.) and explore their results privately in the context of publicly available information in the database. The recent addition of an annotation platform based on Apollo enables users to provide both functional and structural changes that will appear as 'community annotations' immediately and, pending curatorial review, will be integrated into the official genome annotation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Achchuthan Shanmugasundram
- Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, Institute of Integrative, Systems and Molecular Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - David Starns
- Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, Institute of Integrative, Systems and Molecular Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Ulrike Böhme
- Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, Institute of Integrative, Systems and Molecular Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Beatrice Amos
- Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, Institute of Integrative, Systems and Molecular Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Paul A. Wilkinson
- Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, Institute of Integrative, Systems and Molecular Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Omar S. Harb
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Susanne Warrenfeltz
- Center for Tropical & Emerging Global Diseases, Department of Genetics, Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Jessica C. Kissinger
- Center for Tropical & Emerging Global Diseases, Department of Genetics, Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Mary Ann McDowell
- Department of Biological Sciences, Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, United States of America
| | - David S. Roos
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Kathryn Crouch
- School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew R. Jones
- Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, Institute of Integrative, Systems and Molecular Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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Rodriguez ME, Tekiel V, Campo VA. In vitro evaluation of Resveratrol as a potential pre-exposure prophylactic drug against Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist 2022; 20:54-64. [PMID: 36099853 PMCID: PMC9474288 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2022.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Revised: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Chagas' disease or American trypanosomiasis, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi infection, is an endemic disease in Latin America, which has spread worldwide in the past years. The drugs presently used for treatment have shown limited efficacy due to the appearance of resistant parasites and severe side effects. Some of the most recent studies on anti-parasitic drugs have been focused on protein acetylation, a reversible reaction modulated by Acetyl Transferases (KATs) and Deacetylases (KDACs). We have previously reported the anti-parasite activity of resveratrol (RSV), an activator of KDACs type III (or sirtuins), and showed that this drug can reduce the growth of T. cruzi epimastigotes and the infectivity of trypomastigotes. Since RSV is now widely used in humans due to its beneficial effects as an antioxidant, it has become an attractive candidate as a repurposing drug. In this context, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of this drug to protect three different types of host cells from parasite infection. RSV treatment before parasite infection reduced the percentage of infected cells by 50-70% depending on the cell type. Although the mammalian cell lines tested showed different sensitivity to RSV, apoptosis was not significantly affected, showing that RSV was able to protect cells from infection without the activation of this process. Since autophagy has been described as a key process in parasite invasion, we also monitored this process on host cells pretreated with RSV. The results showed that, at the concentrations and incubation times tested, autophagy was not induced in any of the cell types evaluated. Our results show a partial protective effect of RSV in vitro, which justifies extending studies to an in vivo model to elucidate the mechanism by which this effect occurs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Vanina A. Campo
- Corresponding author. IIB: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnologicas, Av. 25 de Mayo y Francia, 1650 San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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