Hatala A J, Harrington L C, Degner E C
Department of Entomology, Comstock Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
J Med Entomol. 2018 Jun 28;55(4):1051-1054. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjy040.
Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) is a vector of several arboviruses impacting human health, including dengue, chikungunya, and potentially Zika. Vector control strategies that deploy modified males into the field are in use or under development and require a solid understanding of male biology; unfortunately, there has been limited effort to understand male Ae. albopictus reproductive biology, including sperm production and capacity. We tested whether body size and age affect spermatogenesis in Ae. albopictus. In general, older and larger males produced more sperm than their younger or smaller counterparts. Large males continued spermatogenesis well after 10-d post-eclosion (dpe), augmenting their reserves by 39%. By contrast, small males stopped producing sperm at 10 dpe. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of Ae. albopictus reproductive physiology. We discuss the usefulness of these findings in the context of Ae. albopictus life history and their utility in optimizing male mosquito release strategies.
白纹伊蚊（Skuse）（双翅目：蚊科）是多种影响人类健康的虫媒病毒的传播媒介，包括登革热、基孔肯雅热，以及可能的寨卡病毒。将经过改造的雄蚊释放到野外的病媒控制策略正在使用或正在研发中，这需要对雄蚊生物学有深入的了解；不幸的是，人们对雄性白纹伊蚊生殖生物学的研究，包括精子产生和能力方面的研究较少。我们测试了体型和年龄是否会影响白纹伊蚊的精子发生。一般来说，年龄较大和体型较大的雄蚊比年龄较小或体型较小的雄蚊产生更多的精子。大型雄蚊在羽化后10天（dpe）后仍能很好地进行精子发生，其精子储备增加了39%。相比之下，小型雄蚊在10 dpe时停止产生精子。这些结果有助于更深入地了解白纹伊蚊的生殖生理学。我们在白纹伊蚊生活史的背景下讨论了这些发现的有用性，以及它们在优化雄蚊释放策略方面的作用。
