Involvement of prophenoloxidases in the suppression of Plasmodium yoelii development by Anopheles dirus.
Anopheles dirus is refractory to a rodent malaria parasite, Plasmodium yoelii, and melanized oocysts are manifested in infected mosquitoes. Prophenoloxidase (PPO) is a zymogen whose active form mediates melanotic encapsulation of invading pathogens in mosquitoes. In this study, we cloned cDNA fragments of four An. dirus PPOs, that are orthologs of Anopheles gambiae PPO2, PPO4, PPO5 and PPO6. AdPPO4 expression in hemocytes was induced in response to P. yoelii infection. RNA interference using double stranded RNA of AdPPO4 led to depletion of its mRNA and other PPO transcripts. This depletion increased P. yoelii infection prevalence and oocyst intensity, and abolished the melanization of oocysts as well. Therefore, An. dirus PPOs may play a role in the refractoriness to P. yoelii.
Wang
Ying
Y
Department of Pathogenic Biology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Third Military Medical University, Shapingba District, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
Hao
Hongxing
H
Qiu
Zong-Wen
ZW
Xu
Wen-Yue
WY
Zhang
Jian
J
Zhou
Tao-Li
TL
Zhang
Xi-Lin
XL
Huang
Fu-Sheng
FS
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology*; D004156:Catechol Oxidase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004792:Enzyme Precursors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D010802:Phylogeny; D010967:Plasmodium yoelii / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D034622:RNA Interference; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D004792:Enzyme Precursors; D008543:Melanins; C038451:pro-phenoloxidase; D004156:Catechol Oxidase