W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
PLoS Pathog. 2024 Oct 23;20(10):e1012652. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1012652. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Anophelinae mosquitoes are exposed to a variety of microbes including Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria. When infected, mosquitoes mount versatile immune responses, including the production of antimicrobial peptides. Cecropins are one of the most widely distributed families of antimicrobial peptides in insects and all previously studied Anopheles members are playing roles in adult mosquito immunity. We have identified and characterized a novel member of the Anopheles gambiae cecropin family, cecropin D (CecD), that is uniquely expressed and immune-responsive at late larval stages to promote microbial clearance through its broad-spectrum antibacterial activity during larval-pupal developmental transition. Interestingly, Cecropin D also exhibited highly potent activity against Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites, the malaria parasite stage that is transmitted from mosquitoes and infects humans and thereby holds promise as a malaria transmission-blocking agent. Finally, we have defined unequivocal cecropin-specific molecular signatures to systematically organize the diversity of the cecropin family in malaria vectors.
按蚊属蚊子暴露于多种微生物中，包括引起疟疾的疟原虫寄生虫。感染时，蚊子会产生多种免疫反应，包括产生抗菌肽。 Cecropins 是昆虫中分布最广泛的抗菌肽家族之一，所有以前研究过的按蚊成员都在成蚊免疫中发挥作用。我们已经鉴定并表征了一种新型的冈比亚按蚊 Cecropin 家族成员，即 Cecropin D（CecD），它在晚期幼虫阶段特异性表达和免疫反应，通过其广谱抗菌活性促进微生物清除，从而在幼虫-蛹发育过渡期间发挥作用。有趣的是， Cecropin D 对疟原虫孢子也表现出高度有效的活性，疟原虫孢子是从蚊子传播并感染人类的疟疾寄生虫阶段，因此有望成为一种疟疾传播阻断剂。最后，我们定义了明确的 Cecropin 特异性分子特征，以系统地组织疟疾传播媒介中 Cecropin 家族的多样性。
