Project description:Wolbachia pipientis is an intracellular symbiotic bacterium found in insects and arthropods. Wolbachia can decrease the vectorial capacity for various pathogens, such as the dengue virus, in Aedes aegypti. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Wolbachia (wMel strain) on the vectorial capacity of Ae. aegypti for Dirofilaria immitis. We analyzed gene expression patterns by RNA-seq in addition to the D. immitis infection phenotype in Ae. aegypti infected with and without wMel. Four Ae. aegypti strains, MGYP2.tet, MGYP2, Liverpol (LVP)-Obihiro (OB), and LVP-OB-wMel (OB-wMel) were analyzed for transcriptome comparison in Malpighian tubule at 2 days post infection. The correlation between Wolbachia infection, D. immitis infection phenotype and immune-related genes expression in Ae. aegypti was investigated.
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
2007-05-15 | GSE7813 | GEO
Project description:Laboratory colonization by Dirofilaria immitis alters the microbiome of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
Project description:Chromosomal inversions play a fundamental role in evolution and have been shown to be responsible for the epidemiologically important traits in malaria mosquitoes. However, they have never been characterized in the major vector of arboviruses Aedes aegypti because of the poor structure of its polytene chromosomes. In this study, we applied a Hi-C proximity ligation approach to identify chromosomal inversions in 23 recently collected strains of Ae. aegypti from its worldwide distribution, two old laboratory colonies, and Ae. mascarensis.
Project description:Canine heartworm is a widespread and potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease caused by infections with the parasitic nematode, Dirofilaria immitis. We have previously shown that systemic activation of the Toll immune pathway via silencing of the negative regulator Cactus in Aedes aegypti blocks parasite development in the Malpighian tubules, the mosquito renal organ. However, it was not established whether the Malpighian tubules were directly responding to Toll activation or were alternatively responding to upregulated proteins or other changes to the hemolymph driven by other tissues. Distinguishing these possibilities is crucial for developing more precise strategies to block D. immitis while potentially avoiding the fitness cost to the mosquito associated with Cactus silencing. This study defines the transcriptional response of Ae. aegypti Malpighian tubules after systemic Toll activation via intra-thoracic injection of dsCactus and found, like the response of whole mosquitoes, a significant increase in expression of Toll pathway target genes. Additionally, we identified a significant overlap between the transcriptional response of the Malpighian tubules and proteins upregulated in the hemolymph. Our data show that Malpighian tubules are capable of RNAi-mediated gene silencing and directly respond to dsCactus treatment by upregulating canonical Toll pathway targets. Though not definitive, the strong correspondence between the Malpighian tubule transcriptional and the hemolymph proteomic responses provides evidence that the tubules may contribute to mosquito humoral immunity.
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.
Project description:Microarray analysis on days 1, 2 and 7 post-infection with dengue, yellow fever and West Nile virus in Aedes aegypti Rockefeller strain mosquitoes RNA was purified and hybridized with Nimblegen X4 microarray chips using 81-mer probes designed from 18,000 open reading frames (ORF) found in the Ae. aegypti genome, with 2 different probes per ORF
Project description:Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infect hundreds of millions of people each year with dangerous viral pathogens including dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya. Progress in understanding the biology of this insect, and developing tools to fight it, depends on the availablity of a high-quality genome assembly. Here we use DNA proximity ligaton (Hi-C) and Pacific Biosciences long reads to create AaegL5 - a highly contiguous A. aegypti reference.
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/chaotic/changing habitats.