Relative quantification of the effect of blood meal iron on protein expression in the ovaries of Aedes aegypti (778.8)

Abstract

Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are estimated to kill more than 2 million people annually. The vector for dengue, Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito), is found in the desert Southwest of the continental United States. One approach to limiting the spread of disease is to reduce the numbers of mosquito vectors. Our area of research is iron metabolism. Our long term goal is to use molecular techniques to alter the expression of iron related proteins in mosquitoes to reduce mosquito fecundity and survival. Our hypothesis is that female mosquitoes require iron in the blood meal as an essential nutrient to aid in egg development. Although the iron is necessary for fecundity it is also highly oxidative and toxic in biological systems unless the mineral is strictly regulated to mitigate its oxidative potential. We are currently analyzing tissue‐specific, iron regulated proteins of the mosquito ovary 24 h post‐blood meal fed on artificial blood meal diets supplemented with no iron or low iron, or a porcine blood meal (high iron). Measurement of the blood meal iron effect on ovarian protein expression was carried out using Tandem Mass Tags (TMT) which permits simultaneous identification and relative quantification of proteins during LTQ Velos Orbitrap LC‐MS/MS analysis. This research will contribute to our understanding of mosquito development in general, as well as ovarian iron metabolism.Grant Funding Source: Supported by funds from the Arizona Ag Experiment Station and CALS