Scientists use parasite sex to fight disease
Sexual preferences in people are hard enough to explain. Some members of our species are only in the mood if certain objects are present, or if they're in very specific environments. Others can't be bothered without having been persuaded by a complex series of events occurring immediately prior.
The deadly parasite Leishmania has been found to have a vigorous capacity for genetic exchange as well, but only when in the gut of an insect known as the sand fly. How's that for a peculiar fetish?
Leishmania are the parasites responsible for the disease leishmaniasis, in which the parasites migrate to vital organs of their human host. There are half a million new cases of leishmaniasis each year, along with 60,000 deaths, mostly in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil. It is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world, after malaria. Even if you treat leishmaniasis before it kills you, you're still likely to end up with giant sores, blindness and a severely enlarged spleen.
In a research article published in Science earlier this month, scientists from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Washington University School of Medicine have shown that sexual reproduction in leishmania is possible in the sand fly vector, which opens up possibilities for being able to use genetic approaches to study the parasites and develop ways to fight leishmaniasis.
"Leishmania have long been known to reproduce asexually, and our findings only reveal that sexual reproduction is possible," said David Sacks, a co-principal investigator in this study from the Intracellular Parasite Biology Section of the NIH.
Although cloning is the primary method of reproduction in leishmania, scientists have long suspected that leishmania can have sex. However, their reproductive patterns have been difficult to observe until now, and not because they're shy.
"Genetic exchange was not observed experimentally before because sex seems to only occur in the sand fly vector, and there are very few [laboratories] in the world that have sand flies," Sacks said.
The deadly parasite Leishmania has been found to have a vigorous capacity for genetic exchange as well, but only when in the gut of an insect known as the sand fly. How's that for a peculiar fetish?
Leishmania are the parasites responsible for the disease leishmaniasis, in which the parasites migrate to vital organs of their human host. There are half a million new cases of leishmaniasis each year, along with 60,000 deaths, mostly in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil. It is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world, after malaria. Even if you treat leishmaniasis before it kills you, you're still likely to end up with giant sores, blindness and a severely enlarged spleen.
In a research article published in Science earlier this month, scientists from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Washington University School of Medicine have shown that sexual reproduction in leishmania is possible in the sand fly vector, which opens up possibilities for being able to use genetic approaches to study the parasites and develop ways to fight leishmaniasis.
"Leishmania have long been known to reproduce asexually, and our findings only reveal that sexual reproduction is possible," said David Sacks, a co-principal investigator in this study from the Intracellular Parasite Biology Section of the NIH.
Although cloning is the primary method of reproduction in leishmania, scientists have long suspected that leishmania can have sex. However, their reproductive patterns have been difficult to observe until now, and not because they're shy.
"Genetic exchange was not observed experimentally before because sex seems to only occur in the sand fly vector, and there are very few [laboratories] in the world that have sand flies," Sacks said.
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