title: Ovipositional Behavior of Anopheles gambiae Mosquitoes.
abstract: Mosquito eggs laid within two hours are necessary for transgenic (injection) studies, because mosquito eggs become hard after that period. Thus, in order to have eggs available within this two-hour window, it is important to understand the ovipositional behavior of Anopheles gambiae s.s.. In the present study, the ovipositional behavior of An. gambiae s.s. (Kisumu) was investigated in several different conditions: age of mosquitoes, time post blood meal to access oviposition substrate, and light conditions. Two groups of mosquitoes, 3-5 days old and 9-11 days old were blood-fed. For those mosquito groups, an oviposition dish was set either at 48 hours or 72 hours after the blood meal either in a light condition or in an artificial dark condition. The number of laid eggs was compared among the different conditions. The 3-5 day-old mosquitoes apparently produced a higher number of eggs than 9-11 day-old mosquitoes, while there was no significant difference between the two groups. The number of laid eggs per one surviving blood-fed mosquito in the dark condition was significantly higher than that in the light condition (p = 0.03). Providing an oviposition dish at 72 hours after blood meal resulted in a significantly higher number of laid eggs per one surviving blood-fed mosquito than at 48 hours after blood meal (p = 0.03). In conclusion, the optimal condition to have readily available egg supply for transgenic analysis was as follows: 3-5 day-old mosquitoes with an oviposition dish placed at 72 hours after the blood meal in a dark environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Agyapong
authors.affiliation: Vestergaard-NMIMR Vector Labs (VNVL), Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chabi
authors.affiliation: Vestergaard-NMIMR Vector Labs (VNVL), Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Aikins
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ablorde
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Worlasi D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Kartey
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Joseph H N
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Osei
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Dziedzom K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dadzie
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Boakye
authors.affiliation: Section of Environmental Parasitology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University , 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.affiliation: Vestergaard-NMIMR Vector Labs (VNVL), Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana.
authors.forename: Melinda P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Hadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana , Legon LG 581, Ghana ; Section of Environmental Parasitology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University , 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
keywords: Anopheles gambiae; ovipositional behavior; transgenic study