Abstract
The cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile reflects the insects’ physiological states. These include age, sex, reproductive stage, and gravidity. Environmental factors such as diet, relative humidity or exposure to insecticides also affect the CHC composition in mosquitoes. In this work, the CHC profile was analyzed in two Anopheles albimanus phenotypes with different degrees of susceptibility to Plasmodium, the susceptible-White and resistant-Brown phenotypes, in response to the two dietary regimes of mosquitoes: a carbon-rich diet (sugar) and a protein-rich diet (blood) alone or containing Plasmodium ookinetes. The CHCs were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry or flame ionization detection, identifying 19 CHCs with chain lengths ranging from 20 to 37 carbons. Qualitative and quantitative changes in CHCs composition were dependent on diet, a parasite challenge, and, to a lesser extent, the phenotype. Blood-feeding caused up to a 40% reduction in the total CHC content compared to sugar-feeding. If blood contained ookinetes, further changes in the CHC profile were observed depending on the Plasmodium susceptibility of the phenotypes. Higher infection prevalence caused greater changes in the CHC profile. These dietary and infection-associated modifications in the CHCs could have multiple effects on mosquito fitness, impacts on disease transmission, and tolerance to insecticides.
Highlights
The cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile reflects the insects’ physiological states
To assess whether the cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) composition in the infection-susceptible White (W) and –resistant Brown (B) phenotypes changed with diet and challenged status, the mosquitoes were separated into three different groups per phenotype: sugar-fed (S), blood-fed (B), and P. berghei (Pb)-challenged (Fig. 1A)
Mosquitoes were maintained with sugar solution throughout the experiment in addition to the ookinete or mock culture feedings at five days post-emergence of the blood-fed and Pb-challenged groups
Summary
The cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile reflects the insects’ physiological states. These include age, sex, reproductive stage, and gravidity. Environmental factors such as diet, relative humidity or exposure to insecticides affect the CHC composition in mosquitoes. Higher infection prevalence caused greater changes in the CHC profile These dietary and infection-associated modifications in the CHCs could have multiple effects on mosquito fitness, impacts on disease transmission, and tolerance to insecticides. The cuticle is the most extensive extracellular structure covering the insect’s external surfaces, protecting them against the environment. It is mainly composed of chitin, proteins, lipids, waxes, and cement. The CHCs studied until recently have shown functions related to desiccation resistance, as mating signals, species and gender recognition cues, nestmate recognition, dominance and fertility cues, chemical mimicry, and for preventing infections[3,4,5,7,10,11]
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