Sleep deprivation alters blood-feeding propensity, host landing and immune gene expression in Aedes aegypti

Monday, November 14, 2022

9:24 AM – 9:36 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 205

Presenting Author(s)

Oluwaseun M. Ajayi (he/him/his)

PhD Candidate
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio

Co-Author(s)

ES

Evan S. Smith

University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
LG

Lucas A. Gleitz

University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
JM

Justin M. Marlman

University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
CV

Clement Vinauger

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia
JB

Joshua B. Benoit

Professor
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio

In animals, sleep deprivation (SD) can negatively affect a wide range of essential processes such as cognition, metabolism, reproduction, and immunity. Specifically, SD has been implicated in the biological performance of invertebrates, including insects. In honey bees and Drosophila, night-time SD reduced the precision of waggle dance signaling, and caused defects in short- and long-term memory, respectively. Of interest, a large proportion of genes that increased expression in response to SD in Drosophila were those involved in immune response. We have previously established sleep-like states in mosquitoes, allowing for the evaluation of how SD impacts some indices of vectorial capacity using behavioral and gene expression assessments. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were sleep-deprived through the delivery of vibration stimuli in the dark phase, and this caused a reduction in blood-feeding propensity (about 54%) and host landing relative to control 4 hours post SD. RNA-seq analysis identified 112 upregulated and 64 downregulated genes in sleep-deprived mosquitoes with respect to those that were allowed full sleep. Functional enrichment analysis showed an increase in factors associated with stress and immune responses. Results from the study provide an insight into the potential influence of sleep deprivation in mosquitoes on pathogen dissemination and disease transmission.