Establishment of a method for Lutzomyia longipalpis sand fly embryo microinjection: The first step towards potential novel control strategies for leishmaniasis

<ns5:p>Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne parasitic disease transmitted by sand flies that affects 1.3 million people across 98 countries, with limited control strategies due to the lack of an available vaccine and the emergence of insecticide resistance.  Novel control strategies that are being explored for mosquito-borne diseases, such as <ns5:italic>Wolbachia </ns5:italic>bacterial inhibition of pathogens and genetically modified insects (e.g. using CRISPR-Cas9 editing), rely on the ability to consistently inject embryos of the target species.  Here we present a novel method to obtain and inject preblastoderm sand fly embryos of the genus <ns5:italic>Lutzomyia (Lu.)</ns5:italic><ns5:italic> longipalpis</ns5:italic>, the principle vector of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in South America. The procedures required to obtain sufficiently young <ns5:italic>Lu. longipalpis </ns5:italic>colony embryos are described alongside a microinjection technique that permits rapid injection and minimal handling of small sand fly embryos post-injection. Using a strain of <ns5:italic>Wolbachia</ns5:italic> as a ‘marker’ for successful injection, our protocol produced early generation <ns5:italic>Wolbachia</ns5:italic> transinfected <ns5:italic>Lu. longipalpis</ns5:italic> lines, demonstrating its potential as the first step for use in novel applied strategies for sand fly control.</ns5:p>