Analysis of the clock genes period and timeless in Chagas disease vectors

GARCIA, BA; DIAZ, S; STROPPA, MM

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de las Sociedades de Biociencias; 2017

In Rhodnius prolixus and Triatoma infestans circadian rhythmsseem to control basic biological processes. In order to better understandthe molecular bases of the circadian rhythms, we explored thebiological central clock at the molecular level in triatomine insects.With this purpose, we identified coding regions of the clock genesperiod (per) and timeless (tim) from the genome of R. prolixus andanalyzed their expression at mRNA level in T. infestans. The perand tim genes expression in nervous tissue of adults T. infestansvaries with a daily rhythm in groups of individuals maintained underphotoperiod (LD), showing a significant peak of expression atsunset. These rhythms of expression agrees with those describedin Drosophila melanogaster and would be compatible with the dailyoscillation in the levels of PER and TIM proteins detected by otherauthors in R. prolixus. Contrary, in the group maintained underconstant light (LL), no daily increase were detected in per and timtranscript level. This result suggests a disruptive action of light inthe transcription of the clock genes per and tim. Besides, the presenceof per transcript in different tissues of adult individuals andin nervous tissue of nymphs evidenced activity of peripheral andcentral clocks in adults and activity of the central clock in nymphsof T. infestans.