| Glossina morsitans | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Glossinidae |
| Genus: | Glossina |
| Species: | G. morsitans |
| Binomial name | |
| Glossina morsitans Westwood, 1851 | |
Glossina morsitans is a species of tsetse fly (genus Glossina). It is one of the major vectors of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense [1] in African savannas. [2]
Glossina morsitans is variously classified into the subgenus Glossina s.s. [2] or as the name species of the morsitans species group. Three subspecies are traditionally recognized for G. morsitans: [1] [2] [3]
G.m.s. is further subdivided by some authors into a G. m. s. ugandensis. [4]
About 1.5–1.6 millimetres (15⁄256–1⁄16 in) long. [5] [6]
1.8 millimetres (5⁄64 in) long. [5]
4.5 millimetres (11⁄64 in) long. [5]
6–7 millimetres (15⁄64–9⁄32 in) long. [5]
Adults are 7.75 millimetres (5⁄16 in). G. morsitans is occasionally distinguishable from congeners by the unaided eye - there are differences in gross coloration - if it can be observed resting. It is more readily distinguishable by microscopic examination. [7]
Flight muscles are primarily powered by proline, which is synthesized from fatty acids mobilised out of the fat body. Proline is so efficiently used in muscle mitochondria because they are specialised towards proline oxidising enzymes, and away from enzymes using fatty acids and pyruvate. [8]
G. morsitans is found in East Africa and Equatorial Africa. [1] [9]
It is the tsetse species that is presently reported from the highest number of African countries, [10] i.e. at least 22 including: Angola, Burkina Faso, [11] Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, [12] Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Malawi, Mali, [13] Mozambique, Nigeria, [14] Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, [15] Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. [16]
The species was also historically reported in Benin, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Niger, Sierra Leone and South Sudan, although recent published data for the species in these countries is lacking. [10] G. morsitans was also present in Botswana [17] and Namibia, but the species is believed to have been sustainably eliminated in these two countries by means of aerial spraying of insecticide. [10] [17]
G. morsitans feeds upon warthogs, oxen, buffaloes, kudus, and humans. [18] About 6% of G. m. s.'s bloodmeals come from birds (excluding ostriches). [19]
A sequence was made available in 2014. Among other results this reveals that G. morsitans's genome has incorporated some of its Wolbachia symbiont's genome (see also § Symbionts below). [20] The sense of taste of G. m. m. lacks the sense of sweetness - which may be due to its exclusively hematophagous diet. [21]
G. morsitans carries 3 Ago2 s according to data compiled by Mongelli & Saleh 2016 [22] [23] and Dowling et al 2016 finds 2 Ago3 s [23] while Mongelli & Saleh's compilation shows 3. [22] [23]
G. m. m. is in obligate symbiosis with Wigglesworthia glossinidia and Wolbachia . Without Wigglesworthia, G. m. m. is sterile, and without Wolbachia they are reproductively incompatible with normal flies. [24]
Trypanosomiasis transmitted by G. morsitans and other tsetse species is one of the largest economic problems Africa faces. It has radically altered the cattle agroeconomy across the middle of Africa, severely shrinking the cattle pastoral lifestyle by shrinking the extent of safe grazing lands. This has left about 10,400,000 square kilometres (4,000,000 sq mi) of otherwise usable land devoid of cattle. Raising cattle in the manner common in 1963, this would have allowed for another 125,000,000 head - more than doubling the 114,000,000 being raised at the time. [25]
African trypanosomiasis is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals.
Trypanosomatida is a group of kinetoplastid unicellular organisms distinguished by having only a single flagellum. The name is derived from the Greek trypano (borer) and soma (body) because of the corkscrew-like motion of some trypanosomatid species. All members are exclusively parasitic, found primarily in insects. A few genera have life-cycles involving a secondary host, which may be a vertebrate, invertebrate or plant. These include several species that cause major diseases in humans. Some trypanosomatida are intracellular parasites, with the important exception of Trypanosoma brucei.
Tsetse are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus Glossina, which are placed in their own family, Glossinidae. The tsetse is an obligate parasite, which lives by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals. Tsetse has been extensively studied because of their role in transmitting disease. They have pronounced economic and public health impacts in sub-Saharan Africa as the biological vectors of trypanosomes, causing human and animal trypanosomiasis.
Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus Trypanosoma. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other diseases occur in other animals.
Trypanosoma is a genus of kinetoplastids, a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. Trypanosoma is part of the phylum Euglenozoa. The name is derived from the Greek trypano- (borer) and soma (body) because of their corkscrew-like motion. Most trypanosomes are heteroxenous and most are transmitted via a vector. The majority of species are transmitted by blood-feeding invertebrates, but there are different mechanisms among the varying species. Trypanosoma equiperdum is spread between horses and other equine species by sexual contact. They are generally found in the intestine of their invertebrate host, but normally occupy the bloodstream or an intracellular environment in the vertebrate host.
Trypanosoma brucei is a species of parasitic kinetoplastid belonging to the genus Trypanosoma that is present in sub-Saharan Africa. Unlike other protozoan parasites that normally infect blood and tissue cells, it is exclusively extracellular and inhabits the blood plasma and body fluids. It causes deadly vector-borne diseases: African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness in humans, and animal trypanosomiasis or nagana in cattle and horses. It is a species complex grouped into three subspecies: T. b. brucei, T. b. gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense. The first is a parasite of non-human mammals and causes nagana, while the latter two are zoonotic infecting both humans and animals and cause African trypanosomiasis.
Major-General Sir David Bruce, was a Scottish pathologist and microbiologist who made some of the key contributions in tropical medicine. In 1887, he discovered a bacterium, now called Brucella, that caused what was known as Malta fever. In 1894, he discovered a protozoan parasite, named Trypanosoma brucei, as the causative pathogen of nagana.
Trypanosoma suis is a species of excavate trypanosome in the genus Trypanosoma that causes one form of the surra disease in animals. It infects pigs. It does not infect humans.
Animal trypanosomiasis, also known as nagana and nagana pest, or sleeping sickness, is a disease of vertebrates. The disease is caused by trypanosomes of several species in the genus Trypanosoma such as T. brucei. T. vivax causes nagana mainly in West Africa, although it has spread to South America. The trypanosomes infect the blood of the vertebrate host, causing fever, weakness, and lethargy, which lead to weight loss and anemia; in some animals the disease is fatal unless treated. The trypanosomes are transmitted by tsetse flies.
Wigglesworthia glossinidia is a species of gram-negative bacteria that is a bacterial endosymbiont of the tsetse fly. Because of this relationship, Wigglesworthia has lost a large part of its genome, leaving it with one of the smallest genomes of any living organism, consisting of a single chromosome of 700,000 bp and a plasmid of 5,200. Together with Buchnera aphidicola, Wigglesworthia has been the subject of genetic research into the minimal genome necessary for any living organism.
Paratransgenesis is a technique that attempts to eliminate a pathogen from vector populations through transgenesis of a symbiont of the vector. The goal of this technique is to control vector-borne diseases. The first step is to identify proteins that prevent the vector species from transmitting the pathogen. The genes coding for these proteins are then introduced into the symbiont, so that they can be expressed in the vector. The final step in the strategy is to introduce these transgenic symbionts into vector populations in the wild. One use of this technique is to prevent mortality for humans from insect-borne diseases. Preventive methods and current controls against vector-borne diseases depend on insecticides, even though some mosquito breeds may be resistant to them. There are other ways to fully eliminate them. “Paratransgenesis focuses on utilizing genetically modified insect symbionts to express molecules within the vector that are deleterious to pathogens they transmit.” The acidic bacteria Asaia symbionts are beneficial in the normal development of mosquito larvae; however, it is unknown what Asais symbionts do to adult mosquitoes.
Rhipicephalus sanguineus, commonly called the brown dog tick, kennel tick, or pantropical dog tick, is a species of tick found worldwide, but more commonly in warmer climates. This species is unusual among ticks in that its entire lifecycle can be completed indoors. The brown dog tick is easily recognized by its reddish-brown color, elongated body shape, and hexagonal basis capituli. Adults are 2.28 to 3.18 mm in length and 1.11 to 1.68 mm in width. They do not have ornamentation on their backs.
Hytrosaviridae is a family of double-stranded DNA viruses that infect insects. The name is derived from Hytrosa, sigla from the Greek Hypertrophia for 'hypertrophy' and 'sialoadenitis' for 'salivary gland inflammation.'
Sodalis glossinidius is a species of bacteria, the type and only species of its genus. It is a microaerophilic secondary endosymbiont of the tsetse fly. Strain M1T is the type strain. Sodalis glossinidius is the only gammaproteobacterial insect symbiont to be cultured and thus amenable to genetic modification, suggesting that it could be used as part of a control strategy by vectoring antitrypanosome genes. The organism may increase the susceptibility of tsetse flies to trypanosomes.
Sodalis is a genus of bacteria within the family Pectobacteriaceae. This genus contains several insect endosymbionts and also a free-living group. It is studied due to its potential use in the biological control of the tsetse fly. Sodalis is an important model for evolutionary biologists because of its nascent endosymbiosis with insects.
Vertical transmission of symbionts is the transfer of a microbial symbiont from the parent directly to the offspring. Many metazoan species carry symbiotic bacteria which play a mutualistic, commensal, or parasitic role. A symbiont is acquired by a host via horizontal, vertical, or mixed transmission.
Glossina fuscipes is a riverine fly species in the genus Glossina, which are commonly known as tsetse flies. Typically found in sub-Saharan Africa but with a small Arabian range, G. fuscipes is a regional vector of African trypanosomiasis, commonly known as sleeping sickness, that causes significant rates of morbidity and mortality among humans and livestock. Consequently, the species is among several being targeted by researchers and veterinary and public health authorities for population control as a method for controlling the disease.
The Sleeping Sickness Commission was a medical project established by the British Royal Society to investigate the outbreak of African sleeping sickness or African trypanosomiasis in Africa at the turn of the 20th century. The outbreak of the disease started in 1900 in Uganda, which was at the time a protectorate of the British Empire. The initial team in 1902 consisted of Aldo Castellani and George Carmichael Low, both from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Cuthbert Christy, a medical officer on duty in Bombay, India. From 1903, David Bruce of the Royal Army Medical Corps and David Nunes Nabarro of the University College Hospital took over the leadership. The commission established that species of blood protozoan called Trypanosoma brucei, named after Bruce, was the causative parasite of sleeping sickness.
David Nunes Nabarro was a British physician who was the first bacteriologist at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, and the hospital's first director of pathology. In 1903, he with David Bruce, Aldo Castellani and Cuthbert Christy established that sleeping sickness was caused by the blood parasite, Trypanosoma, and that it was transmitted by tsetse fly.
Alan Christoffels is a bioinformatics scientist, academic, and an author. He is Professor of Bioinformatics, and the director of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute at the University of the Western Cape. He has been serving as a senior advisor to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Pathogen genomics & Partnerships and DSI/NRF Research Chair in Bioinformatics and Public Health Genomics.
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