Formation and three-dimensional architecture of Leishmania adhesion in the sand fly vector
- Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom
- Charles University, Czech Republic
- Hokkaido University, Japan
- National Institute for Basic Biology, Japan
Abstract
Attachment to a substrate to maintain position in a specific ecological niche is a common strategy across biology, especially for eukaryotic parasites. During development in the sand fly vector, the eukaryotic parasite Leishmania adheres to the stomodeal valve, as the specialised haptomonad form. Dissection of haptomonad adhesion is a critical step for understanding the complete life cycle of Leishmania. Nevertheless, haptomonad studies are limited, as this is a technically challenging life cycle form to investigate. Here, we have combined three-dimensional electron microscopy approaches, including serial block face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM) and serial tomography to dissect the organisation and architecture of haptomonads in the sand fly. We showed that the attachment plaque contains distinct structural elements. Using time-lapse light microscopy of in vitro haptomonad-like cells, we identified five stages of haptomonad-like cell differentiation, and showed that calcium is necessary for Leishmania adhesion to the surface in vitro. This study provides the structural and regulatory foundations of Leishmania adhesion,which are critical for a holistic understanding of the Leishmania life cycle.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript.
Article and author information
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Funding
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Ryuji Yanase
National Institute for Basic Biology (20-515)
- Ryuji Yanase
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (Infravec2)
- Petr Volf
Wellcome Trust (221944/Z20/Z)
- Jack D Sunter
European Regional Development Fund (CeRaViP)
- Petr Volf
Czech Science Foundation (GACR 21-15700S)
- Petr Volf
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2023, Yanase et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Formation and three-dimensional architecture of Leishmania adhesion in the sand fly vector
eLife 12:e84552.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.84552
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