Hernández Hernández Fidel PhD

Dr. Fidel de la Cruz Hernández-Hernández

Current position: Professor
Present adscription: Department of Infectomics and Molecular Pathogenesis. Cinvestav, IPN, Mexico.      
Address: Av. IPN, No. 2508, San Pedro Zacatenco. CP. 07360
Phone number: + 52 (55) 57-47-3800 ext 5645, 5646. Fax: (525) 747 3800-5625           
E-mail: cruzcruz@cinvestav.mx

Academic profile

Ph. D.     Genetics and Molecular Biology. Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN. Mexico City, México. 1997.

 

Info

The research lines of this laboratory are mainly oriented to the study of the causal agents of diseases and their vector mosquitoes: malaria (Plasmodium spp.-Anopheles spp) and dengue (Aedes spp.-DEN virus).

Pathogen-vector interfaces are studied using the tools of molecular biology. We are currently part of a research team, with an interdisciplinary approach, in which research groups from the Mexican Institute of Public Health (INSP) collaborate. One of the main objectives of the group's studies is the identification of molecules that participate in the parasite-vector interaction and through genetic engineering to investigate and design new disease control strategies.

Anopheles spp - Plasmodium spp. The interaction between Plasmodium and Anopheles mosquitoes occurs mainly in three strategic areas: the midgut (stomach), the hemocoel, and the salivary glands. For these reasons we studied the molecules induced during blood feeding and have observed that there is sex-specific molecular expression in the stomach of mosquitoes. Among the molecules included in our studies are proteolytic enzymes involved in digestion and proteins that are probably involved in iron uptake and peritrophic matrix construction. We also characterized salivary gland secretion proteins, specific to adult females.

The sexual stages of the Plasmodium parasite, the most important in the world due to the number of cases and deaths it causes, occur in the stomach of the mosquito. With the P. berghei murine model, we studied the molecules of the parasite that are expressed and how they function in the stage of interaction with the mosquito vector.

Aedes spp. – DEN viruses. Given the ability of mosquitoes to transmit viral diseases such as dengue, Chikungunya and Zika, the study of the immune system of mosquitoes is important to understand the interactions that occur when viruses invade the mosquito, sometimes leading to the reproduction of the virus making the mosquito capable of transmitting the disease, but on other occasions the mosquito's defense system resolves the infection, which makes them refractory. The mechanisms that determine these differences are also the subject of laboratory studies.

An important strategy for vector control depends on the identification of sex-specific expression of genes. In our group we study the expression of sex and developmentally regulated genes involved in the formation of flight muscles

The grana-producing insect. We also apply the molecular biology tools developed with vector insects in projects where insects of industrial or food importance are studied, such as the prickly pear cochineal, Dactylopius coccus, producer of the grana, and in pest insects of agricultural importance.

1: Rubio-Miranda JÁ, Cázares-Raga FE, Coy-Arechavaleta AS, Viettri M, Cortes-Martínez L, Lagunes-Guillén A, Chávez-Munguía B, Ludert JE, Hernández-Hernández FC. Septin 2 interacts with dengue virus replication complex proteins and participates in virus replication in mosquito cells. Virology. 2022 May;570:67-80. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2022.03.007. Epub 2022 Mar 27. PMID:35390695.

2: Celestino-Montes A, Hernández-Martínez S, Rodríguez MH, Cázares-Raga FE,Vázquez-Calzada C, Lagunes-Guillén A, Chávez-Munguía B, Rubio-Miranda JÁ, Hernández-Cázares FJ, Cortés-Martínez L, Hernández-Hernández FC. Development of the indirect flight muscles of Aedes aegypti, a main arbovirus vector. BMC Dev Biol. 2021 Aug 26;21(1):11. doi: 10.1186/s12861-021-00242-8. PMID: 34445959; PMCID: PMC8394598.

3: Trujillo-Ocampo A, Cázares-Raga FE, Del Angel RM, Medina-Ramírez F, Santos- Argumedo L, Rodríguez MH, Hernández-Hernández FC. Participation of 14-3-3e and 14-3-3? proteins in the phagocytosis, component of cellular immune response, in Aedes mosquito cell lines. Parasit Vectors. 2017 Aug 1;10(1):362. doi: 10.1186/s13071-017-2267-5. PMID: 28764795; PMCID: PMC5540338.

4: Trujillo-Ocampo A, Cázares-Raga FE, Celestino-Montes A, Cortés-Martínez L, Rodríguez MH, Hernández-Hernández FC. IDENTIFICATION AND EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF TWO 14-3-3 PROTEINS IN THE MOSQUITO Aedes aegypti, AN IMPORTANT ARBOVIRUSES VECTOR. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 2016 Nov;93(3):143-159. doi: 10.1002/arch.21348. Epub 2016 Sep 5. PMID: 27592842.

5: Alonso-Morales A, González-López L, Cázares-Raga FE, Cortés-Martínez L, Torres-Monzón JA, Gallegos-Pérez JL, Rodríguez MH, James AA, Hernández-Hernández Fde L. Protein phosphorylation during Plasmodium berghei gametogenesis. Exp Parasitol. 2015 Sep;156:49-60. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2015.05.010. Epub 2015 May 22. PMID: 26008612; PMCID: PMC4837889.

6: González-Calixto C, Cázares-Raga FE, Cortés-Martínez L, Del Angel RM, Medina-Ramírez F, Mosso C, Ocádiz-Ruiz R, Valenzuela JG, Rodríguez MH, Hernández- Hernández Fde L. AealRACK1 expression and localization in response to stress in C6/36 HT mosquito cells. J Proteomics. 2015 Apr 24;119:45-60. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2014.11.019. Epub 2014 Dec 30. PMID: 25555378; PMCID: PMC6329303.

7: Cázares-Raga FE, Chávez-Munguía B, González-Calixto C, Ochoa-Franco AP, Gawinowicz MA, Rodríguez MH, Hernández-Hernández FC. Morphological and proteomic characterization of midgut of the malaria vector Anopheles albimanus at early time after a blood feeding. J Proteomics. 2014 Dec 5;111:100-12. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2014.07.037. Epub 2014 Aug 13. PMID: 25132141.

8: González-Lázaro M, Dinglasan RR, Hernández-Hernández Fde L, Rodríguez MH, Laclaustra M, Jacobs-Lorena M, Flores-Romo L. Anopheles gambiae Croquemort SCRBQ2, expression profile in the mosquito and its potential interaction with the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei. Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2009 May- Jun;39(5-6):395-402. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2009.03.008. Epub 2009 Apr 12. PMID: 19366631; PMCID: PMC4138513.

9: García-Gil De Muñoz F, Lanz-Mendoza H, Hernández-Hernández FC. Free radical generation during the activation of hemolymph prepared from the homopteran Dactylopius coccus. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 2007 May;65(1):20-8. doi: 10.1002/arch.20174. PMID: 17427930.

10: Hernández-Hernández Fde L, de Muñoz FG, Rojas-Martínez A, Hernández-Martínez S, Lanz-Mendoza H. Carminic acid dye from the homopteran Dactylopius coccus hemolymph is consumed during treatment with different microbial elicitors. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 2003 Sep;54(1):37-45. doi: 10.1002/arch.10099. PMID:12942514.