The Amazonian Tropical Bites Research Initiative, a hope for resolving zoonotic neglected tropical diseases in the One Health era

BACKGROUND

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) disproportionately affect populations living in resource-limited settings. In the Amazon basin, substantial numbers of NTDs are zoonotic, transmitted by vertebrate (dogs, bats, snakes) and invertebrate species (sand flies and triatomine insects). However, no dedicated consortia exist to find commonalities in the risk factors for or mitigations against bite-associated NTDs such as rabies, snake envenoming, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis in the region. The rapid expansion of COVID-19 has further reduced resources for NTDs, exacerbated health inequality and reiterated the need to raise awareness of NTDs related to bites.

METHODS

The nine countries that make up the Amazon basin have been considered (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela) in the formation of a new network.

RESULTS

The Amazonian Tropical Bites Research Initiative (ATBRI) has been created, with the aim of creating transdisciplinary solutions to the problem of animal bites leading to disease in Amazonian communities. The ATBRI seeks to unify the currently disjointed approach to the control of bite-related neglected zoonoses across Latin America.

CONCLUSIONS

The coordination of different sectors and inclusion of all stakeholders will advance this field and generate evidence for policy-making, promoting governance and linkage across a One Health arena.

Physical and genetic map of Epinotia aporema granulovirus genome

The bean shoot borer, Epinotia aporema (Lep. Tortricidae), is an economically important pest of legume crops in South America. Recently, a granulovirus (EpapGV) was isolated from E. aporema larvae, and evaluated as a potential biological control agent. In order to generate a restriction map and to investigate the gene organisation of EpapGV genome, DNA isolated from occlusion bodies as well as a set of cloned genomic fragments were analysed using combinations of restriction endonucleases and Southern blot analyses that lead to a first version of the physical map. It was subsequently confirmed and refined by sequencing the termini of the cloned fragments and assessing their contiguity by comparing the sequences with databases to identify putative ORFs spanning neighbour fragments. This was also aided by PCR amplifications with primers that pointed outwards of the cloned viral DNA. The granulin gene was positioned on the physical map, cloned and sequenced. Its 747-nucleotide-long ORF encodes a predicted protein of 29 kDa and the core of the baculovirus very late promoter ATAAG was found 29 nucleotides upstream the initiation codon. In addition, 27 putative ORFs were located on the map and used to explore the genome organisation by GeneParityPlot against the fully sequenced granulovirus genomes. These data, taken together with the phylogenetic tree generated by alignment of the major occlusion proteins, indicate that EpapGV is closely related to CpGV, but has a distinct gene organisation.

Characterization of a granulovirus isolated from Epinotia aporema Wals. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) larvae

A granulovirus (GV) isolated from Epinotia aporema (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)-a major soybean pest-was studied in terms of its main morphological, biochemical, and biological properties. The ovoidal occlusion bodies were 466 by 296 nm in size, and their most prominent protein had an apparent molecular mass of 29 kDa. Its amino-terminal sequence was remarkably homologous to that of the granulins of other GVs. The DNA genome size was estimated to be 120 kbp. The high specificity and pathogenicity of this newly described granulovirus (EpapGV) indicate that it is indeed a good candidate for the biological control of this pest.