A transgenic sensor strain for monitoring the RNAi pathway in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti.

ABSTRACT: The RNA interference pathway functions as an antiviral defense in invertebrates. In order to generate a phenotypic marker which "senses" the status of the RNAi pathway in Aedes aegypti, transgenic strains were developed to express EGFP and DsRED marker genes in the eye, as well as double-stranded RNA homologous to a portion of the EGFP gene. Transgenic "sensor" mosquitoes exhibited robust eye-specific DsRED expression with little EGFP, indicating RNAi-based silencing. Cloning and high-throughput sequencing of small RNAs confirmed that the inverted-repeat transgene was successfully processed into short-interfering RNAs by the mosquito RNAi pathway. When the A. aegypti homologues of the genes DCR-2 or AGO-2 were knocked down, a clear increase in EGFP fluorescence was observed in the mosquito

SUBMITTER: Adelman ZN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2518454 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature