title: West Nile virus infection alters midgut gene expression in Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae).
abstract: Alterations in gene expression in the midgut of female Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus exposed to blood meals containing 6.8 logs plaque-forming units/mL of West Nile virus (WNV) were studied by fluorescent differential display. Twenty-six different cDNAs exhibited reproducible differences after feeding on infected blood. Of these, 21 cDNAs showed an increase in expression, and 5 showed a decrease in expression as a result of WNV presence in the blood meal. GenBank database searches showed that one clone with increased expression, CQ G12A2, shares 94% identity with a leucine-rich repeat-containing protein from Cx. p. quinquefasciatus and 32% identity to Toll-like receptors from Aedes aegypti. We present the first cDNA clone isolated from female Cx. p. quinquefasciatus midgut tissue whose expression changes on exposure to WNV. This cDNA represents a mosquito gene that is an excellent candidate for interacting with WNV in Cx. p. quinquefasciatus and may play a role in disease transmission.
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, Vero Beach, Florida 32962, USA. ctsmart@ufl.edu
authors.forename: Chelsea T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Smartt
authors.forename: Stephanie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: Sheri L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Erickson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003465:Culex / Q000821:virology*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012313:RNA / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D019476:Insect Proteins; D012313:RNA