2013-05-23

Mosquito behavior may be immune response, not parasite manipulation

Mosquito behavior may be immune response, not parasite manipulation

"Normally, after a female mosquito ingests a blood meal, she matures her eggs and does not take another one until the meal is digested," said Lauren J. Cator, postdoctoral fellow in entomology and a member of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Penn State. "If infected, however, mosquitoes will wait to eat until the parasites developing within the gut mature and migrate to the salivary glands."

It was thought that fasting until malaria could be transmitted was beneficial to the malaria parasite because if the female mosquito was not feeding, she was not being swatted. The return of hunger seemed to correlate with the migration of parasites to the salivary glands. The hungrier the mosquitoes are, the more they feed and the more chances to find new hosts.

Cator and colleagues who included Justin George, postdoctoral fellow; Simon Blanford, research associate; Courtney C. Murdock, postdoctoral fellow; Thomas C. Baker, professor of entomology; Andrew F. Read, professor of biology and entomology and alumni professor in biological sciences; and Matthew B. Thomas, professor of entomology, used a mouse model and showed that indeed female mosquitoes behaved in this way.

It was unclear if the malaria parasite caused the mosquitoes' response or if something else was in play. The researchers also looked at how the infected mosquitoes searched for meals and how they responded to the smell of humans. Although the mosquitoes used were biting mice, they also look to humans for a meal.

George ran the experiments testing the mosquito's sense of smell during various stages of parasite maturity and found that the mosquitoes responded to human smell much more readily once the parasites were ready to transfer to their hosts. The same was found of the meal-seeking behavior of the mosquitoes.

The researchers dissected the insects to determine the exact stage of the parasite in each mosquito they tested and what they found surprised them. They published their results in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B today (May 22).

"There were mosquitoes that took an infected blood meal, but didn't get infected or fought off the infection," said Cator. "These mosquitoes behaved in the same way as the infected mosquitoes."

The researchers then injected mosquitoes with killed E. coli to see the response. While the degree of fasting and food seeking was smaller, the noninfected, E. coli-challenged mosquitoes behaved in the same way. They fasted for about the same time and then went searching for a meal. Their responses to human smell and meal searching behavior also mirrored that of malaria-infected mosquitoes.

"Recently, a group from the Netherlands published in PLOS and while they were only looking at the mature parasites in the salivary glands, they found the same response to human odor," said Cator. "This supports that the response is a generalized response to a challenge rather than a manipulation by the malaria parasite and that our findings are probably relevant for human malaria transmission."

The National Institutes of Health supported this work.


Welcome to SUV System Ltd!

SUV System Ltd is ISO 90012008 Certified electronics distributor with 10 years of experiences.

We have built up long term business relationship with about many companies which are stockers and authorized agents. we have a steady and reliable supply to meet customer's demands to the greatest extent .Confidently, we are able to lower your cost and support your business with our years of professional service.

SUV System Ltd is Electronic Components Distributor Supplies,Find Quality Electronic Components Supplies Products IC(Integrated Circuits),Connectors,Capacitor,Resistors,Diodes,Transistors,LED at Suvsystem.com. Sourcing Other Energy, Environment, Excess Inventory Products from Manufacturers and Suppliers at Suvsystem.com

Electronic Components distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com

Connectors Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Connectors-1.html

IC Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/IC(Integrated-Circuits)-1.html

LED Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/LED-1.html

Capacitor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Capacitor-1.html

Transistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Transistors-1.html

Resistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Resistors-1.html

Diode Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Diodes-1.html

SUV System Ltd insists on the managing faith ofsincereness,speciality,foresight, win-win,so we build up stable-relationship customers located all over the world, including the States, Europe, Argentina, UAE, Malaysia, Australia,and India etc

we are focus on the following fields,and hope we can help you.


CRT0603-CY-2491ELF CRT0603-CY-2261ELF CRT0603-CY-2211ELF CRT0603-CY-1961ELF CRT0603-CW-8871ELF CRT0603-CW-5491ELF CRT0603-CW-2211ELF CRT0603-CW-1742ELF CRT0603-BZ-9102ELF CRT0603-BZ-3000ELF CRT0603-BZ-1000ELF CRT0603-BY-9R10ELF CRT0603-BY-9762ELF CRT0603-BY-9532ELF CRT0603-BY-9091ELF CRT0603-BY-8252ELF CRT0603-BY-8201ELF CRT0603-BY-8061ELF CRT0603-BY-7871ELF CRT0603-BY-7501ELF CRT0603-BY-7500ELF CRT0603-BY-7321ELF CRT0603-BY-6811ELF CRT0603-BY-6491ELF CRT0603-BY-6192ELF CRT0603-BY-6041ELF CRT0603-BY-56R0ELF CRT0603-BY-5622ELF CRT0603-BY-5621ELF CRT0603-BY-5361ELF CRT0805-BV-2401ELF CRT0805-BV-1691ELF CRT0805-BV-1002ELF CRT0805-BV-1001ELF CRT0603-PW-1502ELF CRT0603-PW-1001ELF CRT0603-PV-1501ELF CRT0603-FZ-5112ELF CRT0603-FZ-47R5ELF CRT0603-FZ-3161ELF
http://www.suvsystem.com/a/1373.aspx

No comments:

Post a Comment