image: This is a house and yard in a village near Sheraro, Ethiopia. view more
Credit: Alon Warburg
Researchers report that several species of blood-sucking sand flies from disparate global regions have a predilection for feeding on the marijuana plant (Cannabis sativa). Female sand flies require blood meals to incubate their young. In the process, the flies can transmit diseases, including leishmaniasis. Sand flies also rely on plant sugars for food, and the availability of preferred plants can influence the flies' distribution in space and time. Ibrahim Abbasi, Artur Queiroz, Alon Warburg, and colleagues used a next generation sequencing-based DNA assay to determine the types of plants that sand fly species feed on in different geographic areas. The authors trapped sand flies in five unique regions, from Brazil to the Middle East, and identified the types of plants consumed by looking at unique DNA sequences found in chloroplasts. The flies tested showed a variety of plants ingested. However, the most commonly consumed plant in four of the five sites was C. sativa, despite its apparent lack of abundance in the study sites. According to the authors, the sand flies' affinity for the marijuana plant, while puzzling, could provide a potential avenue for sand fly control.
Article #18-10435: "Plant-feeding phlebotomine sand flies, vectors of leishmaniasis, prefer Cannabis sativa," By Ibrahim Abbasi, et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Alon Warburg, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ISRAEL; e-mail: alonw@ekmd.huji.ac.il
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