title: Trypanosoma cruzi-Trypanosoma rangeli co-infection ameliorates negative effects of single trypanosome infections in experimentally infected Rhodnius prolixus.
abstract: Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease, co-infects its triatomine vector with its sister species Trypanosoma rangeli, which shares 60% of its antigens with T. cruzi. Additionally, T. rangeli has been observed to be pathogenic in some of its vector species. Although T. cruzi-T. rangeli co-infections are common, their effect on the vector has rarely been investigated. Therefore, we measured the fitness (survival and reproduction) of triatomine species Rhodnius prolixus infected with just T. cruzi, just T. rangeli, or both T. cruzi and T. rangeli. We found that survival (as estimated by survival probability and hazard ratios) was significantly different between treatments, with the T. cruzi treatment group having lower survival than the co-infected treatment. Reproduction and total fitness estimates in the T. cruzi and T. rangeli treatments were significantly lower than in the co-infected and control groups. The T. cruzi and T. rangeli treatment group fitness estimates were not significantly different from each other. Additionally, co-infected insects appeared to tolerate higher doses of parasites than insects with single-species infections. Our results suggest that T. cruzi-T. rangeli co-infection could ameliorate negative effects of single infections of either parasite on R. prolixus and potentially help it to tolerate higher parasite doses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,Princeton University,Princeton,New Jersey 08544,USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,Princeton University,Princeton,New Jersey 08544,USA.
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,Princeton University,Princeton,New Jersey 08544,USA.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,Princeton University,Princeton,New Jersey 08544,USA.
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Dobson
authors.affiliation: Grupo BCEI,Universidad de Antioquia,Calle 70 No. 52-21,Medellín,Colombia.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Triana Chávez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012098:Reproduction; D012239:Rhodnius / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology; D013534:Survival; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D057509:Trypanosoma rangeli / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D014774:Virulence
keywords: Chagas disease; Rhodnius prolixus; T. cruzi–T. rangeli co-infection; Trypanosoma cruzi; Trypanosoma rangeli; infected-vector fitness