Comparative genomics uncovers the evolutionary dynamics of detoxification and insecticide target genes across 11 phlebotomine sand flies
Sand flies infect more than one million people annually with Leishmania parasites and other bacterial and viral pathogens. Progress in understanding sand fly adaptations to xenobiotics, such as insecticides has been slowed by the limited availability of genomic resources. Here we sequenced, assembled and annotated the transcriptomes of 11 phlebotomine leishmaniasis vectors, and used them to generate new evolutionary insights pertaining to their adaptations to xenobiotics, including those contributing to insecticide resistance. We annotated and performed large-scale phylogenetic comparisons of over 2,700 sand fly genes from the five major detoxification enzyme families, Cytochrome P450s (CYPs), Glutathione-S-Transferases (GSTs), UDP-Glycosyltransferases (UGTs), Carboxyl/Cholinesterases (CCEs) and ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) Transporters. This comparative approach uncovered that sand flies have evolved diverse CYP and GST repertoires, with striking expansions in gene groups encoding for potential xenobiotic metabolizers. Furthermore, we identified conserved orthologs for two primary insecticide targets, acetylcholinesterase-1 (Ace1) and Voltage Gated Sodium Channel (VGSC). This work provides valuable genomic resources for enabling sand fly research and aims to catalyse the development of novel chemical control strategies against these disease vectors.