Abstract
SummaryPhysiological trade-offs between mosquito immune response and reproductive capability can arise due to insufficient resource availability. C-type lectin family members may be involved in these processes. We established a GCTL-3−/− mutant Aedes aegypti using CRISPR/Cas9 to investigate the role of GCTL-3 in balancing the costs associated with immune responses to arboviral infection and reproduction. GCTL-3−/− mutants showed significantly reduced DENV-2 infection rate and gut commensal microbiota populations, as well as upregulated JAK/STAT, IMD, Toll, and AMPs immunological pathways. Mutants also had significantly shorter lifespans than controls and laid fewer eggs due to defective germ line development. dsRNA knock-down of Attacin and Gambicin, two targets of the AMPs pathway, partially rescued this reduction in reproductive capabilities. Upregulation of immune response following GCTL-3 knock-out therefore comes at a cost to reproductive fitness. Knock-out of other lectins may further improve our knowledge of the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying reproduction-immunity trade-offs in mosquitoes.
Highlights
Physiological trade-offs between immunological response to infection and reproductive ability are likely the result of limited availability of energetic resources (Schwenke et al, 2016)
Generation of Aedes aegypti GCTL-3 Mutants by CRISPR/Cas9 Mutant generation in many model organisms commonly relies on combining single guide RNAmediated deletion with homologous recombination using a donor plasmid containing a selective marker (Supplemental Information, Table S1)
We found a reduced infection rate for GCTL-3À/À mutants compared with controls, with 89% of the control mosquitoes being infected when compared with 67% of mutants (Mann-Whitney test; p = 0.0142)
Summary
Physiological trade-offs between immunological response to infection and reproductive ability are likely the result of limited availability of energetic resources (Schwenke et al, 2016). Increased investment in the immune system should result in decreased reproductive capabilities, and vice versa, there are many other factors that influence the balance of resource allocation (including age and pathogen virulence). Recent publications have highlighted the importance of the mosquito as a site of viral replication and have described methodologies that can inhibit or enhance virus replication within the mosquito itself (Buchman et al, 2019; Wang et al, 2017; Yen et al, 2018) These strategies affect a diverse range of targets but have often resulted in changes to mosquito reproductive potential via unknown mechanisms. Despite their importance, the wider mechanisms that underlie reproductive/immunological trade-offs remain largely unknown in mosquitoes (Hurd, 2002; Schwenke et al, 2016)
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