Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Commun Biol. 2021 Jul 9;4(1):856. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02385-7.
Mosquito vectors transmit various diseases through blood feeding, required for their egg development. Hence, blood feeding is a major physiological event in their life cycle, during which hundreds of genes are tightly regulated. Blood is a rich source of proteins for mosquitoes, but also contains many other molecules including microRNAs (miRNAs). Here, we found that human blood miRNAs are transported abundantly into the fat body tissue of Aedes aegypti, a key metabolic center in post-blood feeding reproductive events, where they target and regulate mosquito genes. Using an artificial diet spiked with the mimic of an abundant and stable human blood miRNA, hsa-miR-21-5p, and proteomics analysis, we found over 40 proteins showing differential expression in female Ae. aegypti mosquitoes after feeding. Of interest, we found that the miRNA positively regulates the vitellogenin gene, coding for a yolk protein produced in the mosquito fat body and then transported to the ovaries as a protein source for egg production. Inhibition of hsa-miR-21-5p followed by human blood feeding led to a statistically insignificant reduction in progeny production. The results provide another example of the involvement of small regulatory molecules in the interaction of taxonomically vastly different taxa.
蚊子通过吸血来传播各种疾病，这是它们卵发育所必需的。因此，吸血是它们生命周期中的一个主要生理事件，在此期间，数百个基因被紧密调控。血液是蚊子获取蛋白质的丰富来源，但也含有许多其他分子，包括 microRNAs（miRNAs）。在这里，我们发现人类血液中的 miRNAs 大量运送到埃及伊蚊的脂肪体组织中，这是吸血后生殖事件的关键代谢中心，它们在那里靶向并调节蚊子基因。使用含有丰富和稳定的人血 miRNA 模拟物的人工饮食和蛋白质组学分析，我们发现喂食后雌性埃及伊蚊中有 40 多种蛋白质表达差异。有趣的是，我们发现该 miRNA 正向调控卵黄蛋白原基因，该基因编码一种在蚊子脂肪体中产生的卵黄蛋白，然后作为产卵的蛋白质源被运送到卵巢。抑制 hsa-miR-21-5p 后再进行人血喂养，导致后代产量的统计学上无显著减少。研究结果提供了另一个小调控分子参与分类学上差异极大的生物相互作用的例子。
