TY - JOUR
T1 - Plasmodium falciparum infection increases Anopheles gambiae attraction to nectar sources and sugar uptake
AU - Nyasembe, Vincent O.
AU - Teal, Peter E.A.
AU - Sawa, Patrick
AU - Tumlinson, James H.
AU - Borgemeister, Christian
AU - Torto, Baldwyn
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to all of the staff at the icipe Mbita and Duduville campuses, who provided support without which our research would not have been possible. Special thanks are extended to Woodbridge A. Foster for critical review of the manuscript and Daisy Salifu for assistance with the statistical analysis. We also appreciate the technical assistance from George Omweri of icipe ’s St Jude clinic in Mbita; Tom Guda and his team of vector competence unit and the staff at the insectary unit at Mbita; and Onesmus Wanyama, Milka Gitau, and Richard Ochieng’ at icipe Duduville. We thank Simon Mathenge (formerly of the Botany Department, University of Nairobi) for help in identification of plants. This study was funded in part by Centre for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, US Department of Agriculture and by the US National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant R01A1077722 to Woodbridge A. Foster. V.O.N. was supported by icipe and the World Federation of Scientists. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
PY - 2014/1/20
Y1 - 2014/1/20
N2 - Plasmodium parasites are known to manipulate the behavior of their vectors so as to enhance transmission [1-4]. From an evolutionary standpoint, behavior manipulation by the parasite should expose the vector to limited risk of early mortality while ensuring sufficient energy supply for both it and the vector [5, 6]. However, it is unknown whether this vector manipulation also affects vector-plant interaction and sugar uptake. Here, we show that the attraction of Anopheles gambiae s.s. to plant odors increased by 30% and 24% after infection with the oocyst and sporozoite stages of Plasmodium falciparum, respectively, while probing activity increased by 77% and 80%, respectively, when the vectors were infected with the two stages of the parasite. Our data also reveal an increased sugar uptake at the oocyst stage that decreased at the sporozoite stage of infection compared to uninfected An. gambiae, with depletion of lipid reserves at the sporozoite stage. These results point to a possible physiological adjustment by An. gambiae to P. falciparum infection or behavior manipulation of An. gambiae by P. falciparum to enhance transmission. We conclude that the nectar-seeking behavior of P. falciparum-infected An. gambiae appears to be modified in a manner governed by the vector's fight for survival and the parasite's need to advance its transmission.
AB - Plasmodium parasites are known to manipulate the behavior of their vectors so as to enhance transmission [1-4]. From an evolutionary standpoint, behavior manipulation by the parasite should expose the vector to limited risk of early mortality while ensuring sufficient energy supply for both it and the vector [5, 6]. However, it is unknown whether this vector manipulation also affects vector-plant interaction and sugar uptake. Here, we show that the attraction of Anopheles gambiae s.s. to plant odors increased by 30% and 24% after infection with the oocyst and sporozoite stages of Plasmodium falciparum, respectively, while probing activity increased by 77% and 80%, respectively, when the vectors were infected with the two stages of the parasite. Our data also reveal an increased sugar uptake at the oocyst stage that decreased at the sporozoite stage of infection compared to uninfected An. gambiae, with depletion of lipid reserves at the sporozoite stage. These results point to a possible physiological adjustment by An. gambiae to P. falciparum infection or behavior manipulation of An. gambiae by P. falciparum to enhance transmission. We conclude that the nectar-seeking behavior of P. falciparum-infected An. gambiae appears to be modified in a manner governed by the vector's fight for survival and the parasite's need to advance its transmission.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2013.12.022
DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2013.12.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 24412210
AN - SCOPUS:84892793388
SN - 0960-9822
VL - 24
SP - 217
EP - 221
JO - Current Biology
JF - Current Biology
IS - 2
ER -