title: Triatomine bugs, their microbiota and Trypanosoma cruzi: asymmetric responses of bacteria to an infected blood meal.
abstract: Triatomine bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) are vectors of the flagellate Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. The study of triatomine gut microbiota has gained relevance in the last years due to its possible role in vector competence and prospective use in control strategies. The objective of this study is to examine changes in the gut microbiota composition of triatomines in response to a T. cruzi-infected blood meal and identifying key factors determining those changes.
  
  
  
  We sampled colony-reared individuals from six triatomine vectors (Panstrongylus megistus, Rhodnius prolixus, Triatoma brasiliensis, T. infestans, T. juazeirensis and T. sherlocki) comparing experimentally T. cruzi strain 0354-challenged and non-challenged insects. The microbiota of gut and gonad tissues was characterized using high throughput sequencing of region V3-V4 of bacterial 16S rRNA gene. The triatomine microbiota had a low intra-individual diversity, and a high inter-individual variation within the same host species. Arsenophonous appeared as the dominant triatomine bacterial symbiont in our study (59% of the total 16S coverage), but there were significant differences in the distribution of bacterial genera among vectors. In Rhodnius prolixus the dominant symbiont was Pectobacterium.
  
  
  
  Trypanosoma cruzi-challenge significantly affects microbiota composition, with challenged vectors harbouring a significantly more diverse bacterial community, both in the gut and the gonads. Our results show that blood-feeding with T. cruzi epimastigotes strongly affects microbiota composition in a species-specific manner. We suggest that triatomine-adapted enterobacteria such as Arsenophonus could be used as stable vectors for genetic transformation of triatomine bugs and control of Chagas disease.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sebastián
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Celular e Molecular, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Villavicencio
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biodiversidade Entomológica, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Nathália
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biodiversidade Entomológica, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. karen.haag@ufrgs.br.|Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Celular e Molecular, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. karen.haag@ufrgs.br.|Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. karen.haag@ufrgs.br.
authors.forename: Karen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Haag
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014225:Triatominae / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D014345:Trypanosoma / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: 16 rRNA; Arsenophonus; Chagas disease; Metabarcoding; Microbiota; Triatomine bugs; Trypanosoma cruzi