The Interaction between a Sexually Transferred Steroid Hormone and a Female Protein Regulates Oogenesis in the Malaria Mosquito Anopheles gambiae
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Authors: | Francesco Baldini Paolo Gabrieli Adam South Clarissa Valim Francesca Mancini Flaminia Catteruccia |
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Institution: | 1.Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America;2.Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Scienze Biochimiche, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Terni, Italy;Stanford University, United States of America |
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Abstract: | Molecular interactions between male and female factors during mating profoundly affect the reproductive behavior and physiology of female insects. In natural populations of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae, blood-fed females direct nutritional resources towards oogenesis only when inseminated. Here we show that the mating-dependent pathway of egg development in these mosquitoes is regulated by the interaction between the steroid hormone 20-hydroxy-ecdysone (20E) transferred by males during copulation and a female Mating-Induced Stimulator of Oogenesis (MISO) protein. RNAi silencing of MISO abolishes the increase in oogenesis caused by mating in blood-fed females, causes a delay in oocyte development, and impairs the function of male-transferred 20E. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments show that MISO and 20E interact in the female reproductive tract. Moreover MISO expression after mating is induced by 20E via the Ecdysone Receptor, demonstrating a close cooperation between the two factors. Male-transferred 20E therefore acts as a mating signal that females translate into an increased investment in egg development via a MISO-dependent pathway. The identification of this male–female reproductive interaction offers novel opportunities for the control of mosquito populations that transmit malaria. |
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