Monoclonal antibodies against Manduca sexta hemocytes bind Aedes aegypti hemocytes: characterization of six monoclonal antibodies that bind hemocytes from both species.

The mechanisms by which hemocytes mediate a mosquito's defense response to parasites or pathogens are not well understood. This is due in part to difficulty in collecting intact mosquito hemocytes for experiments and to a lack of reagents, such as antibodies. Our objectives were to collect adult Aedes aegypti hemocytes under conditions suitable for immunofluorescence microscopy, and to test whether monoclonal antibodies, generated against larval Manduca sexta hemocytes, bind adult Ae. aegypti hemocytes. We present immunofluorescence micrographs of M. sexta and Ae. aegypti hemocytes stained by six monoclonal antibodies. Two antibodies, MS11 and MS32, immunolocalized to hemocyte nuclei in both species. On Western blots, these antibodies generate one signal at approximately 40 kDa and four others between 10 and 25 kDa. Immunofluorescence staining patterns of the other four antibodies were more complex. That these antibodies bind hemocytes from both species suggests significant molecular similarities exist between hemocytes from evolutionarily divergent species.