Transcriptomics of Trypanosoma cruzi and climate change.

During recent decades, climate change has become a serious global problem. Severe changes in temperature can affect the behavior and ecology of some infectious agents. Trypanosoma cruzi is a flagellated protozoan that causes Chagas disease. This parasite has high genetic variability and can be divided into six discrete typing units (DTUs). T. cruzi also has a complex life cycle, which includes the process of metacyclogenesis when non-infective epimastigote forms are differentiated into infective metacyclic trypomastigotes (MT). Nutritional stress is a known trigger of metacyclogenesis. Studies in triatomines have shown that changes in temperature also affect the number and viability of MT. The objective of this study was to evaluate how temperature affects the gene expression of T. cruzi I and II (TcI and TcII) during the process of metacyclogenesis by exposing parasites to two temperatures (27°C and 28°C) and comparing with the control (26°C).