Friday, August 10, 2018
ESA Exhibit Hall, New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Kaylee Arnold1, Troy Kieran2, Christina Pilar Varian3, Azael Saldana4, Jose Calzada4, Franklin Samudio4, Travis C. Glenn2 and Nicole L. Gottdenker3, (1)Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, (2)Environmental Health Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, (3)College of Veterinary Medicine: Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, (4)Parasitology, Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, Panama City, Panama
Background/Question/Methods The diversity of an individual’s gut microbiota can influence the survival and proliferation of pathogens, and previous studies have found that many environmental factors such as seasonality, habitat, locality, and diet can significantly shape the gut microbiota of insects. Using Chagas disease as a study system, we can investigate the gut microbiomes of its vector species to explore potential relationships between gut microbial community composition, anthropogenic environmental change, and risk of disease transmission. Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite
Trypanosoma cruzi and spread via blood-feeding triatomine vectors. Studies have shown that deforestation is associated with increases in triatomine abundance and infection with
T. cruzi in the tropics. However, potential impacts of different land use types on triatomine gut microbial communities, survivorship, or parasite transmission is unknown. Triatomine vectors were collected throughout central Panama between 2015 and 2018 (n=98) from habitats of varying degrees of deforestation and microclimates. Illumina 16S rRNA sequencing was used to assess the bacterial diversity and community composition of the whole-body microbiota of sylvatic triatomines,
Rhodnius pallescens, the primary vector of Chagas disease in Panama.
Results/Conclusions
The main objective of this research was to investigate the bacterial diversity of the whole-body microbiota of sylvatic triatomines across a deforestation gradient of land use type. This data will serve as a preliminary baseline for later gut microbiota studies across similar land use types. Alpha diversity of the whole-body bacterial microbiota was significantly different across habitat type (p <0.001), region (p < 0.001), and age class (p = 0.002). Similarly, richness was significantly different across habitat type (p < 0.05) and region (p < 0.05). In conclusion, there are significant associations between land use type and whole-body bacterial diversity, and further analyses are necessary to explore the relationship between parasite infection and bacterial diversity of triatomines.
