Clock gene period in Chagas disease vector in Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera; Reduviidae)

STROPPA, MM; GIMENEZ, I; GARCIA BA

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE

AMER SOC TROP MED & HYGIENE

Año: 2018

0002-9637

In order to contribute to a better understand of the molecular bases of the circadian biological rhythms in Chagas disease vectors, in this work we identified functional domains in the sequences of the clock protein PERIOD in Rhodnius prolixus and Triatoma infestans and analyzed the expression of the period gene at mRNA level in T. infestans. The PERIOD protein sequences comparison among these species and those from other insects revealed that the most similar regions are the PAS domains and the most variable is the COOH-terminal. On the other hand, the per gene expression in nervous tissue of adults T. infestans varies with a daily canonical rhythm in groups of individuals maintained under photoperiod (LD) and constant dark (DD), showing a significant peak of expression at sunset. The pattern of expression detected in LD persists under the DD condition. As expected, in the group maintained in constant light (LL), no daily increase was detected in per transcript level. Besides, the presence of per transcript in different tissues of adult individuals and in nervous tissue of nymphs evidenced activity of peripheral clocks in adults and activity of the central clock in nymphs of T. infestans.