Shelley AJ et al. (2001) Med Vet Entomol "Biting behaviour and potential vector status of anthropophilic blackflies in a new focus of human onchocerciasis at Minacu, central Brazil."

Dias AP, Shelley AJ, Garritano P, Lowry CA, Maia-Herzog M, Camargo M, Costa EG

[Med Vet Entomol, 2001]

Monthly collections were made of man-biting female blackflies: Simulium auripellitum Enderlein, S. guianense Wise, S. minusculum Lutz and S. nigrimanum Macquart (Diptera: Simuliidae) from four catching stations in the newly discovered focus of human onchocerciasis at Minacu (13 degrees 35 minutes S 48 degrees 18 minutes W), 300 km north of Brasilia in Goias State. These provided baseline data on biting habits, population density and seasonal prevalence during the year before completion of the Serra da Mesa hydroelectric dam on the Rio Tocantins near Minacu, in a project investigating the effect of dam construction on onchocerciasis transmission in the area. All four simuliid species were most abundant during the dry season, and only bit in low numbers (S. auripellitum S. minusculum, S. nigrimanum) or were absent (S. guianense) in the wet season. Simulium minusculum was the predominant species at all catching stations, being particularly abundant by the large River Tocantins. The other three species were mainly associated with smaller rivers. In the dry season, biting rhythms of S. minusculum varied with catching site, while S. nigrimanum showed peaks of activity in early morning and during the afternoon. Experimental infection with Onchocerca volvulus (Leuckart) (Nematoda: Onchocercidae), from a human volunteer, showed that this parasite could develop fully in the four simuliid species, which are all considered to be potential vectors in the area.

Bogaerts A et al. (2010) Biol Direct "Proteome changes of Caenorhabditis elegans upon a Staphylococcus aureus infection."

Verleyen P, Temmerman L, Schoofs L, Beets I, Bogaerts A

[Biol Direct, 2010]

BACKGROUND: The success of invertebrates throughout evolution is an excellent illustration of the efficiency of their defence strategies. Caenorhabditis elegans has proven to be an appropriate model for transcriptome studies of host-pathogen interactions. The aim of this paper is to complement this knowledge by investigating the worm's response to a Staphylococcus aureus infection through a 2-dimensional differential proteomics approach. RESULTS: Different types of growth media in combination with either E. coli OP50 or Staphylococcus aureus were tested for an effect on the worm's lifespan. LB agar was chosen and C. elegans samples were collected 1 h, 4 h, 8 h and 24 h post S. aureus infection or E. coli incubation. Proteomics analyses resulted in the identification of 130 spots corresponding to a total of 108 differentially expressed proteins. CONCLUSIONS: Exploring four time-points discloses a dynamic insight of the reaction against a gram-positive infection at the level of the whole organism. The remarkable upregulation after 8 h and 24 h of many enzymes involved in the citric acid cycle might illustrate the cost of fighting off an infection. Intriguing is the downregulation of chaperone molecules, which are presumed to serve a protective role. A comparison with a similar experiment in which C. elegans was infected with the gram-negative Aeromonas hydrophila reveals that merely 9% of the identified spots, some of which even exhibiting an opposite regulation, are present in both studies. Hence, our findings emphasise the complexity and pathogen-specificity of the worm's immune response and form a firm basis for future functional research. REVIEWERS: This article was reviewed by Itai Yanai, Dieter Wolf and Torben Luebke (nominated by Walter Lutz).