title: Identification of blood meal sources in the main African malaria mosquito vector by MALDI-TOF MS.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The identification of blood meal sources in malaria vectors is critical to better understanding host/vector interactions and malaria epidemiology and control. Currently, the identification of mosquito blood meal origins is based on time-consuming and costly techniques such as precipitin tests, ELISA and molecular tools. Although these tools have been validated to identify the blood meal and trophic preferences of female Anopheles mosquitoes, they present several limitations. Recently, matrix-assisted, laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was successfully used as a quick and accurate tool for arthropod identification, including mosquitoes. The aim of the present work was to test whether MALDI-TOF MS could also be applied to identification of blood meal sources from engorged mosquitoes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Abdomen proteins extracted from Anopheles gambiae (stricto sensu, S molecular form) that were either unengorged or artificially engorged on seven distinct types of vertebrate blood (human, horse, sheep, rabbit, mouse, rat, dog) were submitted for MALDI-TOF MS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The comparison of mass spectrometry (MS) spectra from mosquito abdomens collected 1 h post-feeding, were able to discriminate blood meal origins. Moreover, using Aedes albopictus specimens, abdominal protein MS spectra from engorged mosquitoes were found specific to host blood source and independent of the mosquito species. A sequential analysis revealed stability of mosquito abdominal protein spectra up to 24 h post-feeding.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that MALDI-TOF MS could determine feeding patterns of freshly engorged mosquitoes up to 24 h post-blood meal. The MALDI-TOF MS technique appears to be an efficient tool for large epidemiological surveillance of vector-borne diseases and outbreak source identification.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198 (Dakar, Sénégal), Inserm 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille Université, 27 bd Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France. sirama.niare@yahoo.com.|Malaria Research and Training Center, DEAP/FMOS, UMI 3189, University of Science, Techniques and Technology, Bamako, Mali. sirama.niare@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sirama
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niare
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198 (Dakar, Sénégal), Inserm 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille Université, 27 bd Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France. jmberenger@free.fr.
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Berenger
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198 (Dakar, Sénégal), Inserm 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille Université, 27 bd Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France. caiusdieme@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Constentin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dieme
authors.affiliation: Malaria Research and Training Center, DEAP/FMOS, UMI 3189, University of Science, Techniques and Technology, Bamako, Mali. okd@icermali.org.
authors.forename: Ogobara
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Doumbo
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198 (Dakar, Sénégal), Inserm 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille Université, 27 bd Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France. didier.raoult@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198 (Dakar, Sénégal), Inserm 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille Université, 27 bd Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France. philippe.parola@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parola
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198 (Dakar, Sénégal), Inserm 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille Université, 27 bd Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France. almeras.lionel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Almeras
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004285:Dogs; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors; D051379:Mice; D051381:Rats; D012756:Sheep; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization