Novel factors of Anopheles gambiae haemocyte immune response to Plasmodium berghei infection. Issue 1 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lombardo, Fabrizio; Christophides, George
• Is Part Of: Parasites & vectors. Volume 9:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 6
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Anopheles gambiae -- Innate immunity -- Plasmodium -- RNAi -- Melanisation; Parasitism -- Periodicals; Parasites -- Periodicals; Vector-pathogen relationships -- Periodicals; Animals as carriers of disease -- Periodicals; Insects as carriers of disease -- Periodicals; 616.96
• DOI: 10.1186/s13071-016-1359-y
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1756-3305

Abstract

Abstract Background Insect haemocytes mediate cellular immune responses (e.g., phagocytosis) and contribute to the synthesis of humoral immune factors. In previous work, a genome-wide molecular characterization ofAnopheles gambiae circulating haemocytes was followed by functional gene characterization using cell-based RNAi screens. Assays were carried out to investigate the role of selected haemocyte-specific or enriched genes in phagocytosis of bacterial bio-particles, expression of the antimicrobial peptide cecropin1, and basal and induced expression of the mosquito complement factor LRIM1 (leucine-rich repeat immune gene I). Findings Here we studied the impact of a subset of genes (37 candidates) from the haemocyte-specific dsRNA collection on the development ofPlasmodium in the mosquito by in vivo gene silencing. Our screening identifies 10 novel factors with a role in the mosquito response toPlasmodium . Analysis of in vivo screening phenotypes reveals a significant anti-correlation between the prevalence of oocysts and melanised ookinetes. Conclusions Among novel immune genes are putative pattern recognition proteins (leucine-rich repeat, fibrinogen-domain and R-type lectins), immune modulation and signalling proteins (LPS-induced tumor necrosis factor alpha factor, LITAF and CLIP proteases), and components of extracellular matrix such as laminin and collagen. Additional identified proteins such as the storage protein hexamerin and vesicular-type ATPase (V-ATPase) are associated for the first time with the mosquito response againstPlasmodium .