Gene silencing in mosquito salivary glands by RNAi.
Salivary glands are the ultimate site of development in the insect of mosquito born pathogens such as Plasmodium. Mosquito salivary glands also secrete components involved in anti-haemostatic activities and allergic reactions. We investigated the feasibility of RNAi as a tool for functional analysis of genes expressed in Anopheles gambiae salivary glands. We show that specific gene silencing in salivary glands requires the use of large amounts of dsRNA, condition that differs from those for efficient RNAi in other mosquito tissues. Using this protocol, we demonstrated the role of AgApy, which encodes an apyrase, in the probing behaviour of An. gambiae.
Boisson
Bertrand
B
Unité de Biologie et Génétique du Paludisme, Institut Pasteur, 28 Rue du Dr Roux 75724 Paris Cedex, France. boisson@pasteur.fr
Jacques
Jean Claude
JC
Choumet
Valérie
V
Martin
Estelle
E
Xu
Jiannong
J
Vernick
Ken
K
Bourgouin
Catherine
C
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics*; D001081:Apyrase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D010974:Platelet Aggregation; D034622:RNA Interference; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D011817:Rabbits; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000378:metabolism*
D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D001081:Apyrase