Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37235, USA.
Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37235, USA.
Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 19;11(1):22578. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01842-x.
Anopheline mosquitoes are the sole vectors for the Plasmodium pathogens responsible for malaria, which is among the oldest and most devastating of human diseases. The continuing global impact of malaria reflects the evolutionary success of a complex vector-pathogen relationship that accordingly has been the long-term focus of both debate and study. An open question in the biology of malaria transmission is the impact of naturally occurring low-level Plasmodium infections of the vector on the mosquito's health and longevity as well as critical behaviors such as host-preference/seeking. To begin to answer this, we have completed a comparative RNAseq-based transcriptome profile study examining the effect of biologically salient, salivary gland transmission-stage Plasmodium infection on the molecular physiology of Anopheles gambiae s.s. head, sensory appendages, and salivary glands. When compared with their uninfected counterparts, Plasmodium infected mosquitoes exhibit increased transcript abundance of genes associated with olfactory acuity as well as a range of synergistic processes that align with increased fitness based on both anti-aging and reproductive advantages. Taken together, these data argue against the long-held paradigm that malaria infection is pathogenic for anophelines and, instead suggests there are biological and evolutionary advantages for the mosquito that drive the preservation of its high vectorial capacity.
按蚊是疟原虫病原体的唯一传播媒介，疟原虫病原体导致疟疾，疟疾是最古老和最具破坏性的人类疾病之一。疟疾在全球的持续影响反映了复杂的媒介-病原体关系的进化成功，因此一直是长期争论和研究的焦点。疟疾传播生物学中的一个悬而未决的问题是，媒介中自然发生的低水平疟原虫感染对蚊子的健康和寿命以及关键行为（如宿主偏好/寻求）的影响。为了开始回答这个问题，我们已经完成了一项基于比较 RNAseq 的转录组谱研究，研究了具有生物学意义的唾液腺传播阶段疟原虫感染对冈比亚按蚊头部、感觉附属物和唾液腺分子生理学的影响。与未感染的蚊子相比，感染疟原虫的蚊子表现出与嗅觉敏锐度相关的基因的转录丰度增加，以及一系列协同过程，这些过程与基于抗衰老和生殖优势的更高适应性相吻合。总的来说，这些数据反对疟疾感染对按蚊具有致病性的长期观点，而是表明蚊子具有生物学和进化优势，这有助于保持其高传播能力。
