title: Drinking a hot blood meal elicits a protective heat shock response in mosquitoes.
abstract: The mosquito's body temperature increases dramatically when it takes a blood meal from a warm-blooded, vertebrate host. By using the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, we demonstrate that this boost in temperature following a blood meal prompts the synthesis of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70). This response, elicited by the temperature of the blood meal, is most robust in the mosquito's midgut. When RNA interference is used to suppress expression of hsp70, protein digestion of the blood meal is impaired, leading to production of fewer eggs. We propose that Hsp70 protects the mosquito midgut from the temperature stress incurred by drinking a hot blood meal. Similar increases in hsp70 were documented immediately after blood feeding in two other mosquitoes (Culex pipiens and Anopheles gambiae) and the bed bug, Cimex lectularius, suggesting that this is a common protective response in blood-feeding arthropods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology and Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. joshua.benoit@yale.edu
authors.forename: Joshua B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Benoit
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lopez-Martinez
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.forename: Zachary P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Tyler B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Denlinger
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D001511:Bedbugs / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D001769:Blood; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology; D003465:Culex / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D009033:Culicidae / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D018869:Heat-Shock Response / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins