Exploring the role of insect host factors in the dynamics of Trypanosoma cruzi-Rhodnius prolixus interactions.
Members of the subfamily Triatominae, family Reduviidae, comprise a large number of insect species of which some are vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease. This article outlines research on the process of transformation and the dynamics of developmental stages of Trypanosoma cruzi in the triatomine insect hosts. Special attention is given to the interactions of parasites with gut molecules, and the gut environment, and with host developmental physiology and intestinal organization. The vector insect's permissiveness to Trypanosoma cruzi, which develops in the vector gut, largely depends on the host nutritional state, the parasite strain, trypanolytic compounds, digestive enzymes, lectins, resident bacteria in the gut and the endocrine system of the insect vector. Finally, the mechanisms of these interactions and their significance for Trypanosoma cruzi transmission are discussed.
Garcia
Eloi S
ES
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil 4365, Rio de Janeiro 21045-900, RJ, Brazil.
Ratcliffe
Norman A
NA
Whitten
Miranda M
MM
Gonzalez
Marcelo S
MS
Azambuja
Patricia
P
D000818:Animals; D012239:Rhodnius / Q000469:parasitology*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000502:physiology*