Professor Texas A&M University College Station, Texas
Being the major vector for dengue, Zika, and chinkungunya viruses, the mosquito Aedes aegypti is one of the most important insects in public health. Through a search for potential iron transporters in Ae. aegypti, we identified a gene AAEL000471 whose reduction drastically impaired mosquito reproduction. The gene, named “dyspepsia”, belongs to the SLC16 monocarboxylate transporter family, which has never been studied in mosquitoes. Transcript expression of dyspepsia is highly enriched in the Malpighian tubules and elevated upon bloodmeal, suggesting a role in excretion in response to bloodmeal digestion. Moreover, dyspepsia orthologs in mosquitoes are highly conserved, implying similar function and importance in reproduction across multiple mosquito species. To determine potential control measures, the investigation of its true substrates and molecular mechanisms in reproductive physiology are underway. We expressed dyspepsia in the Xenopus oocytes and screened potential substrates by two-electrode voltage clamp and mass spectrometry using stable-isotope-labelled substrates. Analysis of hemolymph metabolomes in dyspepsia-silenced mosquitoes uncovered the potential downstream effects in substrate-transport deficiency that may be used as targets for control. Knockout mutant by CRISPR/Cas9 technology was used to assess importance of dyspepsia in immature stages, which also show high dyspepsia expression. The results of this study may not only lead to a novel control of Ae. aegypti, but also that of other mosquito species
