E93 confers steroid hormone responsiveness of digestive enzymes to promote blood meal digestion in the midgut of the mosquito Aedes aegypti.

ABSTRACT: Anautogenous female mosquitoes obtain the nutrients needed for egg development from vertebrate blood, and consequently they transmit numerous pathogens of devastating human diseases. Digestion of blood proteins into amino acids that are used for energy production, egg maturation and replenishment of maternal reserves is an essential part of the female mosquito reproductive cycle. However, the regulatory mechanisms underlying this process remain largely unknown. Here, we report that the transcription factor E93 is a critical factor promoting blood meal digestion in adult females of the major arboviral vector Aedes aegypti in response to the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E). E93 was upregulated in the female mosquito midgut after a blood meal, and RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated kno

SUBMITTER: He YZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8947147 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature