Context: Galactose binding protein (PpGalec) plays an important role in the specificity of Phlebotomus papatasi sandfly for Leishmania major. The molecular diversity of this ligand is currently unknown but might have some influence on the ability of PpGalec to efficiently recognize L. major in natural sandfly populations.
Objective: To explore the molecular diversity of the P. papatasi Galectin gene (PpGalec) in natural sandfly population of Morocco.
Results & conclusions: Sequence variations of PpGalec was analyzed in 31 P. papatasi specimens collected from endemic and non-endemic zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis foci of Morocco. Among the 211 amino acid positions analyzed, 11 are subjected to mutation. Interestingly, we observe that one mutation directly affect an amino acid known to be involved in the substrate recognition by galectin. The repercussion of this polymorphism on the capacity of the galectin to efficiently bind the L. major Lipophosphoglycane (LPG) awaits further investigations.