Implication of the Mosquito Midgut Microbiota in the Defense against Malaria Parasites

By Yuemei Dong, Fabio Manfredini, G. Dimopoulos. PLoS Pathogens, 2009

743 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Malaria-transmitting mosquitoes are continuously exposed to microbes, including their midgut microbiota. This naturally acquired microbial flora can modulate the mosquito's vectorial capacity by inhibiting the development of Plasmodium and other human pathogens through an unknown mechanism. We have undertaken a comprehensive functional genomic approach to elucidate the molecular interplay between the bacterial co-infection and the development of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in its natural vector Anopheles gambiae. Global transcription profiling of septic and aseptic mosquitoes identified a significant subset of immune genes that were mostly up-regulated by the mosquito's microbial flora, including several anti-Plasmodium factors. Microbe-free aseptic mosquitoes displayed an increased susceptibility to Plasmodium infection while co-feeding mosquitoes with bacteria and P. falciparum gametocytes resulted in lower than normal infection levels. Infection analyses suggest the bacteria-mediated anti-Plasmodium effect is mediated by the mosquitoes' antimicrobial immune responses, plausibly through activation of basal immunity. We show that the microbiota can modulate the anti-Plasmodium effects of some immune genes. In sum, the microbiota plays an essential role in modulating the mosquito's capacity to sustain Plasmodium infection.

Subfields: Immunology, Insect Science, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d91e7eeb7db9510baebe2aa6be7b636a3fa3a8cf

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Immunology

1. I. Zilber-Rosenberg
2. N. Moran
3. Eugene Rosenberg
4. Philipp Engel

In Insect Science

1. Philipp Engel
2. N. Moran
3. I. Zilber-Rosenberg
4. Eugene Rosenberg
5. A. E. Douglas

In Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

1. K. Theis
2. Seth R. Bordenstein

Citations in the corpus

• The Hologenome Concept: Human, Animal and Plant Microbiota (2014, background): “In mosquitoes, intestinal bacteria inhibit infection of the mosquito with the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum through a mechanism that involves the mosquito’s immune system (Dong et al. 2009).”
• The gut microbiota of insects - diversity in structure and function. (2013, background): “gambiae, clearance of the gut microbiota with antibiotics resulted in enhanced Plasmodium infections (Beier et al., 1994; Dong et al., 2009; Meister et al., 2009), and in Anopheles stephensis, cocolonization with Gram-negative bacteria inhibited P.”