Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Parasit Vectors. 2020 Jun 5;13(1):285. doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-04155-6.
Sugar-feeding provides energy for mosquitoes. Facilitated glucose transporters (GLUTs) are responsible for the uptake of glucose in animals. However, knowledge of GLUTs function in Anopheles spp. is limited.
Phylogenetic analysis of GLUTs in Anopheles stephensi was performed by the maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. The spatial and temporal expression patterns of four Asteglut genes were analyzed by qPCR. The function of Asteglut1 was examined using a dsRNA-mediated RNA interference method. Transcriptome analysis was used to investigate the global influence of Asteglut1 on mosquito physiology.
We identified 4 glut genes, Asteglut1, Asteglutx, Asteglut3 and Asteglut4 in An. stephensi. Asteglut1, Asteglut3 and Asteglut4 were mainly expressed in the midgut. Plasmodium berghei infection differentially regulated the expression of Asteglut genes with significant downregulation of Asteglut1 and Asteglut4, while upregulation of Asteglutx. Only knocking-down Asteglut1 facilitated Plasmodium berghei infection in An. stephensi. This might be due to the accumulation of glucose prior to blood-feeding in dsAsteglut1-treated mosquitoes. Our transcriptome analysis revealed that knockdown of Asteglut1 differentially regulated expression of genes associated with multiple functional clusters, especially those related to detoxification and immunity. The dysregulation of multiple pathways might contribute to the increased P. berghei infection.
Our study shows that Asteglut1 participates in defense against P. berghei in An. stephensi. The regulation of Asteglut1 on vector competence might through modulating multiple biological processes, such as detoxification and immunity.
给蚊子喂食糖可以提供能量。葡萄糖转运蛋白（GLUTs）负责动物体内葡萄糖的摄取。然而，人们对疟蚊属（Anopheles spp.）GLUTs 的功能知之甚少。
采用最大似然法和贝叶斯推断法对斯氏按蚊（Anopheles stephensi）GLUTs 进行系统发育分析。采用 qPCR 分析了 4 个 Asteglut 基因的时空表达模式。采用 dsRNA 介导的 RNA 干扰方法检测 Asteglut1 的功能。采用转录组分析研究 Asteglut1 对蚊子生理的全局影响。
我们在斯氏按蚊中鉴定出 4 个 glut 基因，分别是 Asteglut1、Asteglutx、Asteglut3 和 Asteglut4。Asteglut1、Asteglut3 和 Asteglut4 主要在中肠表达。疟原虫感染（Plasmodium berghei infection）对 Asteglut 基因的表达有差异调节，Asteglut1 和 Asteglut4 显著下调，而 Asteglutx 上调。只有敲低 Asteglut1 才能促进斯氏按蚊感染疟原虫。这可能是因为 dsAsteglut1 处理的蚊子在吸血前积累了葡萄糖。我们的转录组分析表明，敲低 Asteglut1 会差异调节与多个功能簇相关的基因表达，特别是与解毒和免疫相关的基因。多个途径的失调可能导致疟原虫感染增加。
本研究表明，Asteglut1 参与斯氏按蚊抵抗疟原虫的防御。Asteglut1 对媒介能力的调节可能通过调节多个生物过程，如解毒和免疫。
