Project description:We present a microarray study of hemocyte-enriched transcriptome in Aedes aegypti. We directed our efforts to critically assess the transcriptomic features distinctive of hemocytes, and discussed our findings in relation to infection-responsive genes and immune-relate gene families. Specifically, our analysis examined how tissue-enriched expression patterns change with the immune status of the host, and resolved patterns of transcriptional change unique to hemocytes from those that are likely shared by other immune responsive tissues.
Project description:This analysis compare gene expression between 4 day old sugar fed female and male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Keywords: Aedes aegypti sex specific expression
Project description:This analysis defines the adult female and developmental specific transcriptomes of Aedes aegypti. Keywords: Aedews aegypti, development, gene expression
Project description:We present a microarray study of hemocyte-enriched transcriptome in Aedes aegypti. We directed our efforts to critically assess the transcriptomic features distinctive of hemocytes, and discussed our findings in relation to infection-responsive genes and immune-relate gene families. Specifically, our analysis examined how tissue-enriched expression patterns change with the immune status of the host, and resolved patterns of transcriptional change unique to hemocytes from those that are likely shared by other immune responsive tissues. We profiled the transcriptome of circulating hemocytes and the remaining carcass in both naM-CM-/ve and bacteria-challenged adult female mosquitoes. To examine transcriptional changes associated with hemocoelic infection in distinct tissue samples, we adopted a linear model-based framework for analyzing dual-channel hybridizations (i.e., two-color microarrays) as separate single-channels (Smyth, 2004). The biological and technical dye-swap replicates of the 2M-CM-^W3 experimental conditions consisted of forty separate single-channel intensity profiles. For each biological replication, hemolymph perfusate and the remaining carcass were collected as paired samples at 24 hours post intra-hemocoelic injection of either Escherichia coli or Micrococcus luteus overnight culture (0.5 M-BM-5l) in parallel with an age-matched naM-CM-/ve group from the same cohort. Concomitantly-collected hemocyte and carcass samples were co-hybridized on microarrays. Material for each experimental condition was generated from three (bacterial challenge) or four (naM-CM-/ve) separate generations of mosquitoes, and four separate microarray hybridizations using carcass and hemocyte material were performed. The first hybridization compared naM-CM-/ve and E. coli-challenged conditions, the second compared naM-CM-/ve and M. luteus-challenged conditions, and the third and fourth compared all three conditions.
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes of testes in the meiotic drive system in aedes aegypti during spermatogenesis compared to non drive strain. The meiotic drive system in Aedes aegypti causes the female determining chromosome to fragment during spermatogenesis. A six chip study using total RNA from three separately extracted non driving strain testes of Aedes aegypti and three separately extracted meiotic drive strain testes of Aedes aegypti.
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes of testes in the meiotic drive system in aedes aegypti during spermatogenesis compared to non drive strain. The meiotic drive system in Aedes aegypti causes the female determining chromosome to fragment during spermatogenesis.
Project description:Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes impose a severe global public health burden as primary vectors of multiple viral and parasitic pathogens. Under optimal environmental conditions, Aedes aegypti females have access to human hosts that provide blood proteins for egg development, conspecific males that provide sperm for fertilization, and freshwater that serves as an egg-laying substrate suitable for offspring survival. As global temperatures rise, Aedes aegypti females are faced with climate challenges, like intense droughts and intermittent precipitation, which create unpredictable and suboptimal conditions for the egg-laying step of their reproductive cycle. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes nonetheless show remarkable reproductive resilience, but how they achieve this is unknown. Here we show that under drought-like conditions simulated in the laboratory, mated, blood-fed Aedes aegypti females carrying mature eggs retain them in their ovaries for extended periods, while maintaining the viability of these eggs until they can be deposited in freshwater. Using transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of Aedes aegypti ovaries, we identify two previously uncharacterized genes – here named tweedledee and tweedledum – that show ovary-enriched, temporally-restricted expression during egg retention. These genes are mosquito-specific, linked within a syntenic locus, and rapidly evolving under positive selection, raising the possibility that they serve an adaptive function. Using loss-of-function mutagenesis to disrupt both genes, we show that, tweedledee and tweedledum, which encode secreted proteins, are specifically required for extended retention of viable eggs, such as during intermittent precipitation or drought. These results highlight an elegant example of taxon-restricted genes at the heart of an important adaptation that equips Aedes aegypti females with “insurance” to, when contextually appropriate, flexibly extend their reproductive sequence without losing reproductive capacity, thus allowing this species to exploit diverse and unpredictable habitats.