Investigating susceptibility to trypanosomatid parasites using Drosophila melanogaster as a model

Project Information

FlyTryp

Grant agreement ID: 894499

DOI

10.3030/894499

Project closed

EC signature date 17 August 2020

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 30 September 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 224 933,76

EU contribution

€ 224 933,76

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FlyTryp (Investigating susceptibility to trypanosomatid parasites using Drosophila melanogaster as a model)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Host-parasite interactions play an important role in shaping wild and domestic animal populations that, in turn, influence many aspects of human life, such as agriculture, epidemiology and conservation. In particular, vector-borne diseases have a profound impact on human health, and here this project studies trypanosomatid infection in insects. Trypanosomatids are a large group of organisms that are the cause of several diseases in vertebrate hosts, transmitted by biting insects. Most of these insect vectors are challenging to study under laboratory conditions, limiting progress on understanding the genetics of these host-parasite interactions. The project challenges developing a trypanosomatid-host model in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster - a proven model for experimental studies with a well-established molecular, genetic and genomic toolkit and a vast of prior knowledge of its biology. The overall objective of the project Is to investigate the genetics of fly susceptibility to trypanosomatid parasite infection at the molecular and genetic level using the molecular and genomic information available for Drosophila.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

As the result of the project, the host lab at the University of Liverpool has a trypanosomatid culture of Jaenimonas drosophilae, and a reproducible infection protocol for Drosophila melanogaster with this parasite. During the project, multiple D. melanogaster lines from a single mapping population (the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel) were screened for their susceptibility to trypanosomatid infection, with the results showing high variation in this trait. The project exploits the available molecular and genomic information on Drosophila, to investigate the functional genetic basis of this susceptibility using genomic and transcriptomic approaches.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project results are expected to reveal functional pathways that make certain flies more susceptible to infection and shed light on different aspects of insect immunity, ecology and evolution of the host-parasite interaction. The established Drosophila-trypanosomatid system can serve as a functional model for other insect-parasite systems such as insect-vectored diseases, and economically relevant species of Diptera.

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