Comparison of the bacterial gut microbiome of North American Triatoma spp. with and without Trypanosoma cruzi. Gut microbiome of Texas triatomines

Chagas disease is the most important parasitic disease in the Americas, affecting more than 6 million people. The causative agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, is vectored by triatomine insects (‘kissing bugs’), the management of which is critical for the control of transmission of the parasite. Advances in control of other insect-vectored diseases by targeting insect-associated bacteria open the possibility that these methods may help manage Chagas disease. Currently, few studies evaluate triatomine gut bacteria in the context of T. cruzi infection and fewer consider triatomines from North America. This study adds to the growing body of literature on the diversity of host-associated microbes in triatomines in association with their infection by T. cruzi by analyzing bacteria colonizing the hindgut of 74 specimens representing two species collected across Texas, USA. Contrary to previous investigations, we find that triatomine species only weakly explained hindgut bacterial diversity and no significant differences in the overall microbial community composition were detected between T. cruzi positive and T. cruzi negative specimens when controlling for host species. However, we did find specific bacterial organisms enriched in T. cruzi-positive triatomines. The results presented here highlight the diversity of hindgut bacterial communities among distinct triatomine species as well as the need for a wider survey of triatomine species to determine appropriate microbial targets for Chagas disease control.