An obligate microsporidian parasite modulates defense against opportunistic bacterial infection in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti.

ABSTRACT: The ability of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to transmit vertebrate pathogens depends on multiple factors, including the mosquitoes' life history traits, immune response, and microbiota (i.e., the microbes associated with the mosquito throughout its life). The microsporidium Edhazardia aedis is an obligate intracellular parasite that specifically infects Ae. aegypti mosquitoes and severely affects mosquito survival and other life history traits critical for pathogen transmission. In this work, we investigated how E. aedis impacts bacterial infection with Serratia marcescens in Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. We measured development, survival, and bacterial load in both larval and adult stages of mosquitoes. In larvae, E. aedis exposure was either horizon

SUBMITTER: El-Dougdoug NK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10900900 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature