Genetic factors controlling susceptibility to Leishmania major infection in the sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi (diptera: psychodidae)

Studies of the genetic factors controlling Leishmania major infection in Phlebotomus papatasi were carried out using 2 different sand fly lines: one highly susceptible and the other refractory to the parasite. L. major infection rates in both F₁ and F₂ generations from reciprocal crosses and in backcrosses between the parent lines showed that susceptibility and refractoriness of Ph. papatasi to infection with L. major are controlled by >1 gene. Neither susceptibility nor refractoriness is dominant over the other.