Regulation of the antennal transcriptome of the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti, during the first gonotrophic cycle

Sharon Rose Hill,Rickard Ignell,Tanvi Taparia

doi:10.1186/s12864-020-07336-w

Sharon Rose Hill, Rickard Ignell + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-020-07336-w

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Abstract

BackgroundIn the light of dengue being the fastest growing transmissible disease, there is a dire need to identify the mechanisms regulating the behaviour of the main vector Aedes aegypti. Disease transmission requires the female mosquito to acquire the pathogen from a blood meal during one gonotrophic cycle, and to pass it on in the next, and the capacity of the vector to maintain the disease relies on a sustained mosquito population.ResultsUsing a comprehensive transcriptomic approach, we provide insight into the regulation of the odour-mediated host- and oviposition-seeking behaviours throughout the first gonotrophic cycle. We provide clear evidence that the age and state of the female affects antennal transcription differentially. Notably, the temporal- and state-dependent patterns of differential transcript abundance of chemosensory and neuromodulatory genes extends across families, and appears to be linked to concerted differential modulation by subsets of transcription factors.ConclusionsBy identifying these regulatory pathways, we provide a substrate for future studies targeting subsets of genes across disparate families involved in generating key vector behaviours, with the goal to develop novel vector control tools.

Highlights

In the light of dengue being the fastest growing transmissible disease, there is a dire need to identify the mechanisms regulating the behaviour of the main vector Aedes aegypti
Global gene expression profiling Expression profiling of antennal mRNA from the 36 libraries created at six time points from the gonotrophic cycle of Ae. aegypti, revealed the reliable expression of 11,751 genes above background levels, of which 8579 genes were reliably detected in all libraries, while 9015 and 9245 genes were reliably detected in the non-blood fed and blood fed libraries, respectively
Effect of age on gene expression profiles A gene ontology (GO) analysis of the molecular function of genes reliably detected in the antennae of nbf females every 24 h from 5 to 10 days post-emergence indicates that the overall proportion of these genes in each molecular function category remains consistent through time (Fig. S2)

Summary

Introduction

In the light of dengue being the fastest growing transmissible disease, there is a dire need to identify the mechanisms regulating the behaviour of the main vector Aedes aegypti. The capacity of female mosquitoes to vector these diseases is directly dependent on females locating a suitable host and taking a complete. The first gonotrophic cycle of a female Ae. aegypti succeeds the approximately 5-day long adult maturation and mating period [5] (Fig. 1). During this period, females engage in active host seeking, which continues. Until the female, with sufficient energetic reserves, takes a complete blood meal [5] While these behaviours are often considered stereotypic, the dynamic nature of host seeking and blood feeding has been demonstrated over the first 2 weeks post-emergence [8,9,10, 16, 17]. Oviposition usually occurs a few hours after the completion of egg maturation, around 96 h post-blood meal (pbm) [5, 18], at which time the host odour refractoriness is lifted and host seeking resumes within 24 h [19]

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