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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316603
Title: Host-pathogen interactions and genome evolution in two generalist and specialist microsporidian pathogens of mosquitoes

Author
item Becnel, James
item DESJARDINS, CHRISTOPHER - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard
item Sanscrainte, Neil
item GOLDBERG, JONATHAN - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard
item HEIMAN, DAVID - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard
item YOUNG, SARAH - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard
item ZENG, QIANDONG - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard
item MADHANI, HITEN - University Of California
item CUOMO, CHRISTINA - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/13/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The adaptation of two distantly related microsporidia to their mosquito hosts was investigated. Edhazardia aedis is a specialist pathogen that infects Aedes aegypti, the main vector of dengue and yellow fever arboviruses. Vavraia culicis is a generalist pathogen of several insects including Anopheles spp. that vector malaria. Genomic analysis and deep RNA-Seq across infection timecourses reveal fundamental differences between these two pathogens. E. aedis retains enhanced cell surface modification and signaling capacity, upregulating protein trafficking and secretion dynamically during infection. V. culicis is less dependent on its host for basic metabolites and retains a subset of spliceosomal components, with a transcriptome broadly focused on growth and replication. Transcriptional profiling of mosquito immune responses reveals that response to infection by E. aedis differs dramatically depending on the mode of infection, and that antimicrobial defensins may play a general role in mosquito defense against Microsporidia. This analysis illuminates fundamentally different evolutionary paths and host interplay of specialist and generalist pathogens of microsporidia.