Differentially expressed genes between female and male adult Anopheles anthropophagus.
The aim of the present study was to identify sex-specific genes in adult Anopheles anthropophagus. As the major malaria vector and Brugia malayi vector in the Asian continent, female Anopheles mosquitoes take blood meals and transmit pathogens through this pathway, while males are nectar feeders. This complex behavior is controlled at several levels, but is probably initiated by the genetic background difference between these two groups. In our study, a subtractive cDNA library for female A. anthropophagus was constructed using the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique and then 3,074 clones from the female SSH library were analyzed using a microarray-based survey. Genes that were expressed differentially according to sex in A. anthropophagus were screened using real-time polymerase chain reaction and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. In our results, we report a series of genes which may be involved in female-specific mosquito behavior, including an inorganic phosphate transporter, a serine protease, the salivary protein GP35-2, and the D7 cluster salivary protein. These findings will provide clues to the nature of insect vectors and open up unprecedented opportunities to develop novel strategies for the control of mosquito-borne diseases.
Geng
Yi-Jie
YJ
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, 518020, People's Republic of China.
Gao
Shi-Tong
ST
Huang
Da-Na
DN
Zhao
Yi-Rui
YR
Liu
Jian-ping
JP
Li
Xiao-Heng
XH
Zhang
Ren-Li
RL
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015723:Gene Library; D008297:Male; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization / Q000379:methods; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012727:Sex Characteristics