Search

Background: The sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis is the main vector of American visceral leishmaniasis, a disease caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania. Adults of this insect feed on blood (females only) or sugar from plant sources, but their digestion of carbohydrates is poorly studied. Beta-glycosides as esculin and amygdalin are plant compounds and release toxic compounds as esculetin and mandelonitrile when hydrolyzed. Beta-glucosidase and trehalase are essential enzymes in sand fly metabolism and participate in sugar digestion. It is therefore possible that the toxic portions of these glycosides, released during digestion, affect sand fly physiology and the development of Leishmania., Results: We tested the oral administration to sand flies of amygdalin, esculin, mandelonitrile, and esculetin in the sugar meal. These compounds significantly decreased the longevity of Lutzomyia longipalpis females and males. Lutzomyia longipalpis adults have significant hydrolytic activities against esculin and feeding on this compound cause changes in trehalase and β-glucosidase activities. Female trehalase activity is inhibited in vitro by esculin. Esculin is naturally fluorescent, so its ingestion may be detected and quantified in whole insects or tissue samples stored in methanol. Mandelonitrile neither affected the amount of sugar ingested by sand flies nor showed repellent activity. Our results show that mandelonitrile significantly reduces the viability of L. amazonensis, L. braziliensis, L. infantum and L. mexicana, in a concentration-dependent manner. Esculetin caused a similar effect, reducing the number of L. infantum and L. mexicana. Female L. longipalpis fed on mandelonitrile had a reduction in the number of parasites and prevalence of infection after seven days of infection with L. mexicana, either by counting in a Neubauer chamber or by qPCR assays., Conclusions: Glycosides have significant effects on L. longipalpis longevity and metabolism and also affect the development of parasites in culture and inside the insect. These observations might help to conceptualize new vector control strategies using transmission blocking sugar baits.

Autochthonous Oenococcus oeni strains (MS9, MS20 and MS46) with good malolactic performance and yielding adequate diacetyl levels, were selected to investigate the effect of synthetic and grape glycosides on bacterial growth, substrate utilization and β-glucosidase (βGlu), α-arabinofuranosidase (αAra) and α-rhamnopyranosidase (αRha) activities in a wine-like medium containing 6% ethanol, pH 4.0 (WBM). Then, changes in the volatile compounds profile were evaluated at the end of malolactic fermentation (MLF) carried out by the MS46 strain in WBM containing 1 mg L -1 of natural glycoside. All strains grew and efficiently degraded L-malic acid in WBM where βGlu and αAra activities were found but not αRha. In presence of a synthetic glycoside (eriodictyol 7-O-β-rutinoside) βGlu activity was significantly enhanced for two of the cultures tested (MS20 and MS460) while a low αRha activity was induced, presenting MS46 the better performance. Glycosides extracted from fermented grape musts under different conditions allowed maximum growths, L-malic acid utilization rates and glycosidase activities in the MS46 strain. Thus, βGlu, αAra and αRha activities increased between 30-50 and 3-11% respectively. This indirectly correlated to significant changes in total esters and higher alcohols at the end of MLF, which increased by up to 140 and 30% respectively. Moreover, ethyl and acetate esters formed up to 100-fold than alcohols or esters degraded highlighted the main role of this microorganism in the esters synthesis. Results obtained encourage the potential use of selected indigenous O. oeni strains as a tool to enhance wine complexity through MLF, mainly on highly fruity aroma.