Open AccessCRISPR/Cas9 Mutagenesis in Phlebotomus papatasi: the Immune Deficiency Pathway Impacts Vector Competence for Leishmania major
Author(s) -
Isabelle Louradour,
Kashinath Ghosh,
Ehud Inbar,
David L. Sacks
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
mbio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.562
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 2161-2129
pISSN - 2150-7511
DOI - 10.1128/mbio.01941-19
Subject(s) - biology , crispr , leishmania major , cas9 , genetics , immune system , vector (molecular biology) , genome editing , leishmania , virology , gene , parasite hosting , world wide web , computer science , recombinant dna
Sand flies are the natural vectors ofLeishmania parasites. Studies of sand fly/Leishmania interactions have been limited by the lack of successful genomic manipulation of these insects. This paper shows the first example of successful targeted mutagenesis in sand flies via adaptation of the CRISPR/Cas9 editing technique. We generated transmissiblenull mutant alleles ofrelish , a gene known to be essential for the control of immune response in other insects. In addition to the expected higher level of susceptibility to bacteria, the mutant flies presented higher loads of parasites when infected withL. major , showing that the sand fly immune response impacts its vector competence for this pathogen.