Effects of larval nutrition on the endocrinology of mosquito egg development

Abstract

Reproduction by female mosquitoes is dependent on energy resources but modulated by hormones. Our study focused on blood-meal-dependent, anautogenous Aedes aegypti and autogenous Ochlerotatus atropalpus that rely on larval-derived nutrient stores to develop eggs. To determine how larval nutrition affects the endocrinology of egg development in these females, we manipulated the quantity of larval food and measured in vitro production of juvenile hormone (JH) by corpora allata (CA) and ecdysteroids by ovaries. Newly emerged A. aegypti contain lower larval-derived protein reserves, and their CA produce high amounts of JH, in comparison with similarly staged Oc. atropalpus. Ecdysteroid production was initiated in newly emerged Oc. atropalpus females, which have higher protein reserves and which develop eggs without a blood meal, which is required by A. aegypti females to complete egg development.