Project description:Whole genome transcription was quantified in adult female and male Anopheles gambiae atdifferent ages; 0 (0-24 h), 10, 20 and 30 days post-eclosion. The objective of the experiment was to identify genes with significant age-dependent transcription.
Project description:Proteomic analysis of Anopheles gambiae brain tissue after in-gel trypsin digestion. To gain insights into neurobiology of the Anopheles gambiae mosquito, we carried out a proteomic analysis of its brain using a comprehensive proteomic approach.
Project description:We custom-built a bioinformatics pipeline to search for 20E-modifying enzymes in the accessory glands of Anopheles gambiae males, searching for ecdysteroid kinases (EcK), ecdysone oxidases (EO), and ecdysteroid-phosphate phosphatases (EPP). To this end, we generated RNAseq datasets of different An. gambiae tissues dissected from virgin and mated females and males, and produced similar datasets for Anopheles albimanus, a South American species that does not synthetize and transfer ecdysteroids during mating. These analyses led to the identification of one candidate EPP and two potential EcKs (EcK1 and EcK2), which we demonstrated are involved in the activity of a male-specific oxidized ecdysteroid (3D20E). We further determined that 3D20E is specifically produced by the An. gambiae male accessory glands and is transferred to females during copulation, where it triggers a series of post-mating responses.
