title: The use of a chemically defined artificial diet as a tool to study Aedes aegypti physiology.
abstract: Aedes aegypti mosquitoes obtain from vertebrate blood nutrients that are essential to oogenesis, such as proteins and lipids. As with all insects, mosquitoes do not synthesize cholesterol but take it from the diet. Here, we used a chemically defined artificial diet, hereafter referred to as Substitute Blood Meal (SBM), that was supplemented with cholesterol to test the nutritional role of cholesterol. SBM-fed and blood-fed mosquitoes were compared regarding several aspects of the insect physiology that are influenced by a blood meal, including egg laying, peritrophic matrix formation, gut microbiota proliferation, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and expression of antioxidant genes, such as catalase and ferritin. Our results show that SBM induced a physiological response that was very similar to a regular blood meal. Depending on the nutritional life history of the mosquito since the larval stage, the presence of cholesterol in the diet increased egg development, suggesting that the teneral reserves of cholesterol in the newly hatched female are determinant of reproductive performance. We propose here the use of SBM as a tool to study other aspects of the physiology of mosquitoes, including their interaction with microbiota and pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Biologia Molecular e Biotecnologia, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-590, Brazil; Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Octávio A C
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Talyuli
authors.affiliation: Programa de Biologia Molecular e Biotecnologia, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-590, Brazil.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bottino-Rojas
authors.affiliation: Programa de Biologia Molecular e Biotecnologia, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-590, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mabel L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Taracena
authors.affiliation: Programa de Biologia Molecular e Biotecnologia, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-590, Brazil; Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Luiza Macedo
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.affiliation: Programa de Biologia Molecular e Biotecnologia, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-590, Brazil.
authors.forename: José Henrique M
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Programa de Biologia Molecular e Biotecnologia, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-590, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular (INCT-EM), Brazil. Electronic address: pedro@bioqmed.ufrj.br.
authors.forename: Pedro L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology*; D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000378:metabolism; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D015870:Gene Expression; D009866:Oogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D010058:Oviposition / Q000502:physiology; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D002784:Cholesterol
keywords: Aedes aegypti; Artificial diet; Cholesterol; Hematophagy