title: Aedes aegypti: an emerging model for vector mosquito development.
abstract: Blood-feeding mosquitoes, including the dengue and yellow fever vector Aedes aegypti, transmit many of the world's deadliest diseases. Such diseases have resurged in developing countries and pose clear threats for epidemic outbreaks in developed countries. Recent mosquito genome projects have stimulated interest in the potential for arthropod-borne disease control by genetic manipulation of vector insects. Targets of particular interest include genes that regulate development. However, although the Ae. aegypti genome project uncovered homologs of many known developmental regulatory genes, little is known of the genetic regulation of development in Ae. aegypti or other vector mosquitoes. This article provides an overview of the background, husbandry, and potential uses of Ae. aegypti as a model species. Methods for culturing, collecting and fixing developing tissues, analyzing gene and protein expression, and knocking down genes are permitting detailed analyses of the functions of developmental regulatory genes and the selective inhibition of such genes during Ae. aegypti development. This methodology, much of which is applicable to other mosquito species, is useful to both the comparative development and vector research communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, South Bend, IN 46617, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Clemons
authors.forename: Morgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haugen
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Flannery
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomchaney
authors.forename: Kristopher
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kast
authors.forename: Caitlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jacowski
authors.forename: Christy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Simanton Holland
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sarro
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Severson
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duman-Scheel
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D000818:Animals; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D008954:Models, Biological