Vector-borne diseases constitute an enormous burden on public health across the world. However, despite the importance of interactions between infectious pathogens and their respective vector for disease transmission, the biology of the pathogen in the insect is often less well understood than the forms that cause human infections. Even with the global impact of Plasmodium parasites, the causat...

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging arbovirus transmitted to humans by mosquitoes such as Aedes albopictus. To be transmitted, CHIKV must replicate in the mosquito midgut, then disseminate in the hemocele and infect the salivary glands before being released in saliva. We have developed a standardized protocol to visualize viral particles in the mosquito salivary glands using transmission e...

Whether pathogens in the ingested blood meal can enter salivary glands of mosquitoes is a decisive factor disease transmission. Unlike known mosquito-borne (e.g. ZIKA, dengue, etc.), most human cannot mosquitoes, and their survival time inside mosquito usually short. Studies have reported that some species infected with certain developed lesions organs holes midgut). Therefore, which on own (PW...

Arthropod-borne-viruses (arboviruses) pose a global threat due to their ability to b e transmitted by hematophagous insects to vertebrate hosts resulting in a range of serious infectious diseases [1]. Sindbis virus (SINV) is an arbovirus of the genus Alphavirus and the family Togaviridae. This virus is im bibed during bloodfeeding by female mosquitoes in order to enrich their egg production wit...

Polymerase chain reaction analysis was performed to determine whether mosquito predators in wetland habitats feed on Anopheles gambiae sensu lato (s.l.) larvae. Aquatic mosquito predators were collected from six wetlands near Lake Victoria in Mbita, Western Kenya. This study revealed that the whole positive rate of An. gambiae s.l. from 330 predators was 54.2%. The order of positive rate was th...

Anopheline mosquitoes are the primary vectors of parasites in the genus Plasmodium, the causative agents of malaria. Malaria parasites undergo a series of complex transformations upon ingestion by the mosquito host. During this process, the physical barrier of the midgut epithelium, along with innate immune defenses, functionally restrict parasite development. Although these defenses have been ...

A population of Aedes albopictus collected in 1986 in Harris County, Texas, was evaluated for its vector competence with 4 California serogroup viruses (Jamestown Canyon, Keystone, La Crosse and trivittatus). Rates of midgut infection, dissemination of virus beyond the midgut and oral transmission to suckling mice were markedly different for the 4 viruses in a pattern representative of the anti...

BACKGROUND Mitochondria perform multiple roles in cell biology, acting as the site of aerobic energy-transducing pathways and as an important source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that modulate redox metabolism. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We demonstrate that a novel member of the mitochondrial transporter protein family, Anopheles gambiae mitochondrial carrier 1 (AgMC1), is required to ...