Determining the effects of nutrition on the reproductive physiology of male mosquitoes. (February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Huck, Derek T.; Klein, Matthias S.; Meuti, Megan E.
• Is Part Of: Journal of insect physiology. Volume 129(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-02
• Subjects: Male accessory glands -- Metabolomics -- Fecundity -- Lipid content -- Protein content -- NMR spectroscopy; Insects -- Physiology -- Periodicals; Insectes -- Physiologie -- Périodiques; Insects -- Physiology; Periodicals; 571.157
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2021.104191
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-1910

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Abstract: Nutrition affects multiple aspects of insect physiology such as body size and fecundity, but we lack a detailed understanding of how nutrition influences the reproductive physiology of male insects such as mosquitoes. Given that female mosquitoes are vectors of many deadly diseases and can quickly proliferate, understanding how male nutrition impacts female fecundity could be of critical importance. To uncover the relationship between nutrition in adult male mosquitoes and its impacts on reproductive physiology, we reared larvae of the Northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens, on a standard lab diet and divided adult males among three different dietary treatments: low (3%), moderate (10%), and high (20%) sucrose. We found that although overall body size did not differ among treatments, one-week-old males raised on the 3% sucrose diet had significantly smaller male accessory glands (MAGs) compared to males that consumed the 10% and the 20% sucrose diets. Diet affected whole-body lipid content but did not affect whole-body protein content. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, we found that diet altered the metabolic composition of the MAGs, including changes in lactic acid, formic acid, and glucose. We also observed changes in protein and lipid abundance and composition in MAGs. Females who mated with males on the 3% diet were found to produce significantly fewer larvae than females who had mated with males on the 10% diet. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the diet of adult male mosquitoes clearly affects male reproductive physiology and female fecundity. Highlights: Adult diet affects male accessory gland (MAG) size, but not overall body size. Male diet affected whole-body lipid content but not protein content. Metabolites were measured and identified in MAGs with NMR spectroscopy. Metabolites in MAGs became differentially abundant due to diet. The number of larvae and hatch rate was lower in females that mated with nutritionally-deprived males.