Fatty Acid Profiles of Leishmania major Derived from Human and Rodent Hosts in Endemic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Areas of Tunisia and Algeria

Cyrine Bouabid (1, 2) , Yoshiki Yamaryo-Botté (3) , Sameh Rabhi (1, 2) , Haifa Bichiou (1, 2) , Chaima Hkimi (4) , Wafa Bouglita (1, 2, 5) , Melek Chaouach (1, 2) , Naouel Eddaikra (6) , Kais Ghedira (4) , Lamia Guizani-Tabbane (1, 2) , Cyrille Botté (3) , Imen Rabhi (1, 2, 5)

1 LR11IPT06 - Laboratoire de Parasitologie Médicale, Biotechnologies et Biomolécules
2 UTM - Université de Tunis El Manar
3 IAB - Institute for Advanced Biosciences / Institut pour l'Avancée des Biosciences (Grenoble)
4 LR11IPT09 - Laboratoire de Bioinformatique, biomathématiques, biostatistiques (BIMS)
5 UMA - Université de la Manouba [Tunisie]
6 Laboratoire d’Eco-Epidémiologie Parasitaire et Génétique des Populations [Alger]

Leishmaniasis is a protozoal vector-borne disease that affects both humans and animals. In the Mediterranean Basin, the primary reservoir hosts of Leishmania spp. are mainly rodents and canids. Lipidomic approaches have allowed scientists to establish Leishmania spp. lipid profiles for the identification of cell stage specific biomarkers, drug mechanisms of action, and host immune response. Using an in silico approach of global network interaction between genes involved in fatty acid (FA) synthesis followed by the GC-MS approach, we were able to characterize the fatty acid profiles of L. major derived from human and rodent hosts. Our results revealed that the lipid profile of L. major showed similarities and differences with those already reported for other Leishmania species. Phospholipids are the predominant lipid class. FA composition of rodent parasites was characterized by a lower abundance of the precursor C18:2(n-6). One of the rodent clones, which also expressed the lowest lipid abundance in PL and TAG, was the least sensitive clone to the miltefosine drug and has the lowest infection efficiency. Our findings suggest that the lipid composition variation may explain the response of the parasite toward treatment and their ability to infect their host.

Mots clés: promastigote; human; rodent; lipids; fatty acids; Leishmania

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Cyrine Bouabid, Yoshiki Yamaryo-Botté, Sameh Rabhi, Haifa Bichiou, Chaima Hkimi, et al.. Fatty Acid Profiles of Leishmania major Derived from Human and Rodent Hosts in Endemic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Areas of Tunisia and Algeria. Pathogens, 2022, 11 (1), pp.92. ⟨10.3390/pathogens11010092⟩. ⟨pasteur-03540867⟩