Hillesland Heidi, Read Amber, Subhadra Bobban, Hurwitz Ivy, McKelvey Robin, Ghosh Kashinath, Das Pradeep, Durvasula Ravi
Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2008 Dec;79(6):881-6.
Visceral leishmaniasis is an understudied parasitic disease responsible for significant global morbidity and mortality. We are presently investigating a method of disease prevention termed paratransgenesis. In this approach, symbiotic or commensal bacteria are transformed to produce anti-Leishmania molecules. The transformed bacteria are delivered back to sand flies to inactivate the parasite within the vector itself. In this study, we identified 28 distinct gut microorganisms from Phlebotomus argentipes trapped from four visceral leishmaniasis-endemic sites in India. A significant percent of Staphylococcus spp., environmental bacteria, and Enterobacteriaceae were identified. Two non-pathogenic organisms, Bacillus megaterium and Brevibacterium linens, were also isolated. Both organisms are also used extensively in industry. Our results indicate that B. megaterium and B. linens are possible candidates for use in a model of paratransgenesis to prevent transmission of Leishmania.
内脏利什曼病是一种研究不足的寄生虫病，在全球范围内导致了大量发病和死亡。我们目前正在研究一种名为共生转基因的疾病预防方法。在这种方法中，共生或共栖细菌被改造以产生抗利什曼原虫分子。改造后的细菌被重新引入白蛉体内，以在传播媒介自身内使寄生虫失活。在本研究中，我们从印度四个内脏利什曼病流行地区捕获的银足白蛉中鉴定出了28种不同的肠道微生物。鉴定出了相当比例的葡萄球菌属、环境细菌和肠杆菌科。还分离出了两种非致病生物，巨大芽孢杆菌和亚麻短杆菌。这两种生物在工业中也有广泛应用。我们的结果表明，巨大芽孢杆菌和亚麻短杆菌有可能作为共生转基因模型的候选生物，用于预防利什曼原虫的传播。
