Chagas Disease: Identifying Peptides in Trypanosoma cruzi Mass Spectrometry

Presenter's Name(s)

Kristen Elizabeth DoughertyFollow

Conference Year

January 2020

Abstract

Though it is not well known in the United States, there are currently 6-8 million Chagas disease cases in Latin American countries, with 12,000 annual deaths. This disease is life threatening in 1/3 of the cases, where most deaths are a result from cardiac failure. It is caused by a protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, and is transmitted by insect vectors of the subfamily Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Active vector transmission of this disease is most commonly found in areas within South America, Central America, and Mexico which puts 70,000,000 people at risk. When the triatomine insect vector is taking a bloodmeal, it deposits parasite inculcated feces onto the skin where the parasite will enter open wounds and mucus membranes of mammals. In my research in Dr. Lori Stevens’ lab, I’m identifying peptides from parasites grown in pure culture by analyzing mass spectrometric data using Peaks Software Ver7 and will compare the results to peptides identified via SEQUEST. This will provide important preliminary proteomic data for subsequent field collected vectors to help understand the ecology of disease transmission.

Primary Faculty Mentor Name

Dr. Lori Stevens

Faculty/Staff Collaborators

Dr. Bryan Ballif, Anna Schmoker, Caroline Dumas, Clarissa Gold, Dr. Patricia Dorn, Dr. Ying-Wai Lam, Raquel Lima-Cordón, Dr. Lori Stevens

Status

Undergraduate

Student College

College of Arts and Sciences

Program/Major

Biology

Primary Research Category

Biological Sciences

Abstract only.

Share

COinS
 

Chagas Disease: Identifying Peptides in Trypanosoma cruzi Mass Spectrometry

Though it is not well known in the United States, there are currently 6-8 million Chagas disease cases in Latin American countries, with 12,000 annual deaths. This disease is life threatening in 1/3 of the cases, where most deaths are a result from cardiac failure. It is caused by a protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, and is transmitted by insect vectors of the subfamily Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Active vector transmission of this disease is most commonly found in areas within South America, Central America, and Mexico which puts 70,000,000 people at risk. When the triatomine insect vector is taking a bloodmeal, it deposits parasite inculcated feces onto the skin where the parasite will enter open wounds and mucus membranes of mammals. In my research in Dr. Lori Stevens’ lab, I’m identifying peptides from parasites grown in pure culture by analyzing mass spectrometric data using Peaks Software Ver7 and will compare the results to peptides identified via SEQUEST. This will provide important preliminary proteomic data for subsequent field collected vectors to help understand the ecology of disease transmission.