Beerntsen B T, James A A, Christensen B M
Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2000 Mar;64(1):115-37. doi: 10.1128/MMBR.64.1.115-137.2000.
Mosquito-borne diseases are responsible for significant human morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Efforts to control mosquito-borne diseases have been impeded, in part, by the development of drug-resistant parasites, insecticide-resistant mosquitoes, and environmental concerns over the application of insecticides. Therefore, there is a need to develop novel disease control strategies that can complement or replace existing control methods. One such strategy is to generate pathogen-resistant mosquitoes from those that are susceptible. To this end, efforts have focused on isolating and characterizing genes that influence mosquito vector competence. It has been known for over 70 years that there is a genetic basis for the susceptibility of mosquitoes to parasites, but until the advent of powerful molecular biological tools and protocols, it was difficult to assess the interactions of pathogens with their host tissues within the mosquito at a molecular level. Moreover, it has been only recently that the molecular mechanisms responsible for pathogen destruction, such as melanotic encapsulation and immune peptide production, have been investigated. The molecular characterization of genes that influence vector competence is becoming routine, and with the development of the Sindbis virus transducing system, potential antipathogen genes now can be introduced into the mosquito and their effect on parasite development can be assessed in vivo. With the recent successes in the field of mosquito germ line transformation, it seems likely that the generation of a pathogen-resistant mosquito population from a susceptible population soon will become a reality.
蚊媒疾病在全球范围内导致了大量的人类发病和死亡。控制蚊媒疾病的努力受到了部分阻碍，原因包括耐药寄生虫的出现、抗杀虫剂蚊子的产生以及对杀虫剂应用的环境担忧。因此，需要开发能够补充或替代现有控制方法的新型疾病控制策略。一种这样的策略是从易感蚊子中培育出抗病原体蚊子。为此，研究工作集中在分离和鉴定影响蚊子媒介能力的基因。70多年来人们一直知道蚊子对寄生虫的易感性存在遗传基础，但在强大的分子生物学工具和方案出现之前很难在分子水平上评估病原体与蚊子体内宿主组织的相互作用。此外仅仅是在最近负责病原体破坏的分子机制比如黑化包囊形成和免疫肽产生才得到研究。影响媒介能力的基因的分子特征鉴定正在成为常规操作并且随着辛德毕斯病毒转导系统的发展现在可以将潜在的抗病原体基因导入蚊子体内并在体内评估它们对寄生虫发育的影响。随着蚊子种系转化领域最近取得的成功从易感种群中培育出抗病原体蚊子种群似乎很快将成为现实。
