Abstract
Malaria-causing Plasmodium parasites traverse the mosquito midgut cells to establish infection at the basal side of the midgut. This dynamic process is a determinant of mosquito vector competence, yet the kinetics of the parasite migration is not well understood. Here we used transgenic mosquitoes of two Anopheles species and a Plasmodium berghei fluorescence reporter line to track parasite passage through the mosquito tissues at high spatial resolution. We provide new quantitative insight into malaria parasite invasion in African and Indian Anopheles species and propose that the mosquito complement-like system contributes to the species-specific dynamics of Plasmodium invasion.
Highlights
Human malaria is a vector-borne human infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites of Plasmodium species
We examined whether the dynamics of parasite invasion was similar in two Anopheles species and measured the number of parasites at each position in A. stephensi (As) and A. gambiae (Ag)
We focused on P. berghei ookinete passage through the mosquito midgut cells at different time points after infection and examined the proportion of parasites at each position
Summary
The traversal of the mosquito midgut cells is one of the critical stages in the life cycle of malaria parasites. Motile parasite forms, called ookinetes, traverse the midgut epithelium in a dynamic process which is not fully understood. We harnessed transgenic reporters to track invasion of Plasmodium parasites in African and Indian mosquito species. We found important differences in parasite dynamics between the two Anopheles species and demonstrated a role of the mosquito complement-like system in regulation of parasite invasion of the midgut cells
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