Mosquito salivary apyrase regulates blood meal hemostasis and facilitates malaria parasite transmission.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of hematophagy involves a series of adaptations that allow blood-feeding insects to access and consume blood efficiently while managing and circumventing the host's hemostatic and immune responses. Mosquito, and other insects, utilize salivary proteins to regulate these responses at the bite site during and after blood feeding. We investigated the function of Anopheles gambiae salivary apyrase (AgApyrase) in regulating hemostasis in the mosquito blood meal and in Plasmodium transmission. Our results demonstrate that salivary apyrase, a known inhibitor of platelet aggregation, interacts with and activates tissue plasminogen activator, facilitating the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin, a human protease that degrades fibrin and facilitates Plasmodium transmission. We show th

SUBMITTER: Pala ZR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11410810 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature