The gene expression of Leishmania infantum chagasi inside Lutzomyia longipalpis, the main vector of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil.

Leishmania infantum chagasi is the causative agent and Lutzomyia longipalpis is the main vector of visceral leishmaniasis in the Americas. We investigated the expression of Leishmania genes within L. longipalpis after artificial infection.

Alternative splicing originates different domain structure organization of Lutzomyia longipalpis chitinases.

BACKGROUND The insect chitinase gene family is composed by more than 10 paralogs, which can codify proteins with different domain structures. In Lutzomyia longipalpis, the main vector of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil, a chitinase cDNA from adult female insects was previously characterized. The predicted protein contains one catalytic domain and one chitin-binding domain (CBD).