Abstract
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are globally distributed vectors of viruses that impact the health of hundreds of millions of people annually. Mating and blood feeding represent fundamental aspects of mosquito life history that carry important implications for vectorial capacity and for control strategies. Females transmit pathogens to vertebrate hosts and obtain essential nutrients for eggs during blood feeding. Further, because host-seeking Ae. aegypti females mate with males swarming near hosts, biological crosstalk between these behaviors could be important. Although mating influences nutritional intake in other insects, prior studies examining mating effects on mosquito blood feeding have yielded conflicting results. To resolve these discrepancies, we examined blood-feeding physiology and behavior in virgin and mated females and in virgins injected with male accessory gland extracts (MAG), which induce post-mating changes in female behavior. We controlled adult nutritional status prior to blood feeding by using water- and sugar-fed controls. Our data show that neither mating nor injection with MAG affect Ae. aegypti blood intake, digestion, or feeding avidity for an initial blood meal. However, sugar feeding, a common supplement in laboratory settings but relatively rare in nature, significantly affected all aspects of feeding and may have contributed to conflicting results among previous studies. Further, mating, MAG injection, and sugar intake induced declines in subsequent feedings after an initial blood meal, correlating with egg production and laying. Taking our evaluation to the field, virgin and mated mosquitoes collected in Colombia were equally likely to contain blood at the time of collection. Mating, MAG, and sugar feeding impact a mosquito's estimated ability to transmit pathogens through both direct and indirect effects on multiple aspects of mosquito biology. Our results highlight the need to consider natural mosquito ecology, including diet, when assessing their physiology and behavior in the laboratory.
Highlights
Mosquito-borne diseases continue to pose a major public health threat across the globe, in resource-poor tropical regions where transmission levels are often highest
We examined the potential of mating and seminal fluids to modulate female blood feeding and controlled for numerous experimental factors, such as ingestion of sugar prior to blood feeding, that may have led to conflicting results in prior studies
In laboratory studies with field-derived Thai mosquitoes, we show that mating and seminal fluids do not impact blood feeding during a mosquito’s first meal, but prior sugar feeding does
Summary
Mosquito-borne diseases continue to pose a major public health threat across the globe, in resource-poor tropical regions where transmission levels are often highest. While the precise timing of most of these effects are still unknown, refractory behavior appears quickly, within two hours of mating [8] In other organisms, such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, mating induces a wide range of well-characterized female post-mating responses, including changes in mating receptivity, ovulation, longevity, immunity, and feeding habits [43]. Ae. aegypti mate in single pairs or in small swarms that form in response to chemosensory cues emitted by human hosts [45,46] In these swarms, males fly in characteristic figureeight “patrolling” patterns near hosts [46,47], increasing their odds of finding a host-seeking female [39,48]. Mating influences nutritional intake in other insects, prior studies examining mating effects on mosquito blood feeding have yielded conflicting results
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