Humans as blood-feeding sources in sylvatic triatomines of Chile unveiled by next-generation sequencing

作者：Esteban San Juan, Raúl Araya‐Donoso, Catalina Sierra-Rosales, Juana P. Correa, Nicol Quiroga, R Campos, Aldo Solari, Martin Llewellyn, Antonella Bacigalupo, Carezza Botto‐Mahan · 发表于：Parasites & Vectors · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1186/s13071-023-05841-x · 被引用次数：17 · 研究领域：Trypanosoma species research and implications、Research on Leishmaniasis Studies、Parasitic Diseases Research and Treatment

BACKGROUND: Triatomines are blood-sucking insects capable of transmitting Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease in humans. Vectorial transmission entails an infected triatomine feeding on a vertebrate host, release of triatomine infective dejections, and host infection by the entry of parasites through mucous membranes, skin abrasions, or the biting site; therefore, transmission to humans is related to the triatomine-human contact. In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated whether humans were detected in the diet of three sylvatic triatomine species (Mepraia parapatrica, Mepraia spinolai, and Triatoma infestans) present in the semiarid-Mediterranean ecosystem of Chile. METHODS: We used triatomines collected from 32 sites across 1100 km, with an overall T. cruzi infection frequency of 47.1% (N = 4287 total specimens) by conventional PCR or qPCR. First, we amplified the vertebrate cytochrome b gene (cytb) from all DNA samples obtained from triatomine intestinal contents. Then, we sequenced cytb-positive PCR products in pools of 10-20 triatomines each, grouped by site. The filtered sequences were grouped into amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) with a minimum abundance of 100 reads. ASVs were identified by selecting the best BLASTn match against the NCBI nucleotide database. RESULTS: Overall, 16 mammal (including human), 14 bird, and seven reptile species were identified in the diet of sylvatic triatomines. Humans were part of the diet of all analyzed triato...