Net closing on serial killer parasite

Cambridge genome scientists and international colleagues are closing in on new weapons to eradicate deadly diseases spread by the tsetse fly.

The most comprehensive ever study of the tsetse genome, backed by the World Health Organization, has shown potential chinks in the parasites armour, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Centre in the UK believes.

Mining the genome of the killer fly, researchers have revealed the genetic adaptions that allow it to have such unique biology and transmit disease to both humans and animals.

The tsetse fly spreads the parasitic diseases human African trypanosomiasis, known as sleeping sickness, and Nagana that infect humans and animals respectively.

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, 70 million people are currently at risk of deadly infection. Human African trypanosomiasis is on the WHOs list of neglected tropical diseases and since 2013 has become a target for eradication. Understanding the tsetse fly and interfering with its ability to transmit the disease is an essential arm of the campaign.

The tsetse has developed unique and unusual biological methods to source and infect its prey. Its advanced sensory system allows different tsetse fly species to track down potential hosts either through smell or by sight.

This study lays out a list of parts responsible for the key processes and opens new doors to design prevention strategies to reduce the number of deaths and illness associated with human African trypanosomiasis and other diseases spread by the fly.

Dr Matthew Berriman, co-senior author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: Tsetse flies carry a potentially deadly disease and impose an enormous economic burden on countries that can least afford it by forcing farmers to rear less productive but more trypanosome-resistant cattle.

Our study will accelerate research aimed at exploiting the unusual biology of the tsetse fly. The more we understand, the better able we are to identify weaknesses and use them to control the tsetse fly in regions where human African trypanosomiasis is endemic.

The team, comprising 146 scientists from 78 research institutes across 18 countries, analysed the genome of the tsetse fly and its 12,000 genes that control protein activity. The project, which has taken 10 years to complete, will provide the tsetse research community with a free-to-access resource that will accelerate the development of improved tsetse-control strategies in this neglected area of research.

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Net closing on serial killer parasite