title: Preliminary study on the galectin molecular diversity in Moroccoan Phlebotomus papatasi sandfly population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Galactose binding protein (PpGalec) plays an important role in the specificity of Phlebotomus papatasi sandfly for Leishmania major. The molecular diversity of this ligand is currently unknown but might have some influence on the ability of PpGalec to efficiently recognize L. major in natural sandfly populations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the molecular diversity of the P. papatasi Galectin gene (PpGalec) in natural sandfly population of Morocco.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sequence variations of PpGalec was analyzed in 31 P. papatasi specimens collected from endemic and non-endemic zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis foci of Morocco. Among the 211 amino acid positions analyzed, 11 are subjected to mutation. Interestingly, we observe that one mutation directly affect an amino acid known to be involved in the substrate recognition by galectin. The repercussion of this polymorphism on the capacity of the galectin to efficiently bind the L. major Lipophosphoglycane (LPG) awaits further investigations.
authors.affiliation: MIVEGEC, Maladies Infectieuses: Vecteur, Evolution, Génétique, Ecologie Contrôle, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guernaoui
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Boumezzough
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fontenille
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sereno
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005260:Female; D005690:Galactose; D037161:Galectins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006028:Glycosphingolipids / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000378:metabolism; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000235:genetics* / Q000635:transmission; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009018:Morocco; D009154:Mutation; D010691:Phlebotomus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D037161:Galectins; D006028:Glycosphingolipids; C008290:lipophosphonoglycan; D005690:Galactose