Abstract
The mosquito midgut is a physiological organ essential for nutrient acquisition as well as an interface that encounters various mosquito‐borne pathogens. Metabolomic characterization would reveal biochemical fingerprints that are generated by various cellular processes. The metabolite profiles of the mosquito midgut will provide an overview of the biochemical events in both physiological states and the dynamic responses to pathogen infections. In this study, the midgut metabolic profiles of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes following feeding with sugar, human blood, mouse blood, and Plasmodium falciparum-infected human blood were examined. A mass spectrometry system coupled to liquid and gas chromatography produced a time series of metabolites in the midgut at discrete conditions (sugar feeding, 24 h and 48 h post‐normal blood and P. falciparum-infected blood feeding). Triplicates were included to ensure system validity. A total of 512 individual compounds were identified; 511 were assigned to 8 superpathways and 75 subpathways. The dataset can be used for further inquiry into the metabolic dynamics of sugar and blood digestion and of malaria parasite infection. The dataset is accessible at the repository Dryad.
Highlights
Malaria is caused by infection with mosquito-borne parasites of the genus Plasmodium
The midgut samples from the Xu lab (NMSU) were prepared from mosquitoes fed on sugar meals and meals of uninfected mouse blood; and the midgut samples from the Luckhart lab (UCD) were prepared from mosquitoes fed on sugar, on uninfected human blood, and on P. falciparum-infected human blood
In the Luckhart lab, midgut samples were collected from mosquitoes fed on 10% sucrose, were collected at 24 h and 48 h after feeding on a mixture of uninfected human red blood cells (RBCs) and heat-inactivated human serum (1 : 1), and were collected at 24 h and 48 h after feeding on P. falciparum-infected blood (1 : 1 human RBCs : serum)
Summary
Malaria is caused by infection with mosquito-borne parasites of the genus Plasmodium. The act of feeding on blood is essential for mosquito reproduction and for malaria parasite transmission. Transcriptomic responses to blood feeding and malaria parasite infection have been well characterized [4,5,6,7,8,9]. We used a nontargeted metabolomics approach [16, 17] to examine the midgut metabolites of sugar-fed, blood-fed, and P. falciparum-infected mosquitoes. This dataset can connect transcriptomic responses to biochemical fluxes related to the blood feeding and digestion and to P. falciparum infection.
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