Project description:We aimed at identifying the genes regulated by wounding in Anopheles gambiae. Gene expression was compared between wounded and non-wounded mosquitoes, 3h after wounding. Wounding was induced by the injection of dsLacZ using a thin glass needle.
Project description:Background. The mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, is the primary vector of human malaria, a disease responsible for millions of deaths each year. To improve strategies for controlling transmission of the causative parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, we require a thorough understanding of the developmental mechanisms, physiological processes and evolutionary pressures affecting life-history traits in the mosquito. Identifying genes expressed in particular tissues or involved in specific biological processes is an essential part of this process. Results. In this study, we present transcription profiles for ~82% of annotated Anopheles genes in dissected adult male and female tissues. The sensitivity afforded by examining dissected tissues found gene activity in an additional 20% of the genome that is undetected when using whole-animal samples. The somatic and reproductive tissues we examined each displayed patterns of sexually dimorphic and tissue-specific expression. By comparing expression profiles with Drosophila melanogaster we also assessed which genes are well conserved within the Diptera versus those that are more recently evolved. Conclusions. Our expression atlas and associated publicly available database, the MozAtlas (www.tissue-atlas.org), provides information on the relative strength and specificity of gene expression in several somatic and reproductive tissues, isolated from a single strain grown under uniform conditions. The data will serve as a reference for other mosquito researchers by providing a simple method for identifying where genes are expressed in the adult, however, in addition our resource will also provide insights into the evolutionary diversity associated with gene expression levels among species. MozAtlas is composed of data covering 15 distinct adult tissues with 4 replicates using Affymetrix chips. To provide other researchers with the ability to compare their own experiments with our analyses, we have constructed a database and web-browser for querying tissue expression in Anopheles. This framework will in the future be expanded to include additional tissues and developmental stages, as well as additional species when available.
Project description:Transcriptome profiling of a multi insecticide resistant strain of Anopheles gambiae from Burkina Faso compared to a susceptible strain Ngousso from Cameroon.
Project description:Overall, the study aims at obtaining a comprehensive picture of the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, transcriptome using high-coverage RNA-seq of sexed whole-insect samples. This experiment focuses on transcriptomes of females subjected to physiological stress. The samples include adult females collected at different time intervals subject to sub-optimal relative humidity, after exposure to sublethal dose of deltamethrin, or following blood-feeding. Females kept at standard laboratory conditions without exposure to stressors, were collected at the same time intervals as control samples.
Project description:We examined patterns of gene expression in two independent colonies of both M and S molecular forms of Anopheles gambiae at each of three developmental stages of interest: late larvae, sugar-fed virgin females, and gravid females. For each colony, replicates were derived from independent RNA samples extracted from different cohorts to ensure that trends were reproducible. In addition, each replicate was derived from larvae (adults) drawn from three pans (cages) to minimize the contribution of any individual pan to variation between samples. Data were obtained from a total of five biological replicates per mosquito colony.