We have identified 242 Anopheles gambiae genes from 18 gene families implicated in innate immunity and have detected marked diversification relative to Drosophila melanogaster. Immune-related gene families involved in recognition, signal modulation, and effector systems show a marked deficit of orthologs and excessive gene expansions, possibly reflecting selection pressures from different pathogens encountered in these insects' very different life-styles. In contrast, the multifunctional Toll signal transduction pathway is substantially conserved, presumably because of counterselection for developmental stability. Representative expression profiles confirm that sequence diversification is accompanied by specific responses to different immune challenges. Alternative RNA splicing may also contribute to expansion of the immune repertoire.

The anopheline mosquito is the target in most malaria control programs, primarily through the use of residual insecticides. A mosquito was studied that is refractory to most species of malaria through a genetically controlled mechanism. A strain of Anopheles gambiae, which was selected for complete refractoriness to the simian malaria parasite Plasmodium cynomolgi, also has varying degrees of refractoriness to most other malaria species examined, including the human parasites P. falciparum, P. ovale, and P. vivax for which this mosquito is the principal African vector. Furthermore, the refractoriness extends to other subhuman primate malarias, to rodent malaria, and to avian malaria. Refractoriness is manifested by encapsulation of the malaria ookinete after it completes its passage through the mosquito midgut, approximately 16 to 24 hours after ingestion of an infective blood meal. Fully encapsulated ookinetes show no abnormalities in parasite organelles, suggesting that refractoriness is due to an enhanced ability of the host to recognize the living parasite rather than to a passive encapsulation of a dead or dying parasite. Production of fully refractory and fully susceptible mosquito strains was achieved through a short series of selective breeding steps. This result indicates a relatively simple genetic basis for refractoriness. In addition to the value these strains may serve in general studies of insect immune mechanisms, this finding encourages consideration of genetic manipulation of natural vector populations as a malaria control strategy.

We surveyed an Anopheles gambiae population in a West African malaria transmission zone for naturally occurring genetic loci that control mosquito infection with the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The strongest Plasmodium resistance loci cluster in a small region of chromosome 2L and each locus explains at least 89% of parasite-free mosquitoes in independent pedigrees. Together, the clustered loci form a genomic Plasmodium-resistance island that explains most of the genetic variation for malaria parasite infection of mosquitoes in nature. Among the candidate genes in this chromosome region, RNA interference knockdown assays confirm a role in Plasmodium resistance for Anopheles Plasmodium-responsive leucine-rich repeat 1 (APL1), encoding a leucine-rich repeat protein that is similar to molecules involved in natural pathogen resistance mechanisms in plants and mammals.

The sustainability of malaria control in Africa is threatened by the rise of insecticide resistance in Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit the disease1. To gain a deeper understanding of how mosquito populations are evolving, we sequenced the genomes of 765 specimens of Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii sampled from 15 locations across Africa, identifying over 50 million single nucleotide polymorphisms within the accessible genome. These data revealed complex population structure and patterns of gene flow, with evidence of ancient expansions, recent bottlenecks, and local variation in effective population size. Strong signals of recent selection were observed in insecticide resistance genes, with multiple sweeps spreading over large geographical distances and between species. The design of novel tools for mosquito control using gene drive will need to take account of high levels of genetic diversity in natural mosquito populations.

AbstractAchievement of malaria elimination requires development of novel strategies interfering with parasite transmission, including targeting the parasite sexual stages (gametocytes). The formation of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes in the human host takes several days during which immature gametocyte-infected erythrocytes (GIEs) sequester in host tissues. Only mature stage GIEs circulate in the peripheral blood, available to uptake by the Anopheles vector. Mechanisms underlying GIE sequestration and release in circulation are virtually unknown. We show here that mature GIEs are more deformable than immature stages using ektacytometry and microsphiltration methods, and that a switch in cellular deformability in the transition from immature to mature gametocytes is accompanied by the deassociation of parasite-derived STEVOR proteins from the infected erythrocyte membrane. We hypothesize that mechanical retention contributes to sequestration of immature GIEs and that regained deformability of mature gametocytes is associated with their release in the bloodstream and ability to circulate. These processes are proposed to play a key role in P falciparum gametocyte development in the host and to represent novel and unconventional targets for interfering with parasite transmission.

Population subgroups of the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae have not been comprehensively characterized owing to the lack of unbiased sampling methods. In the arid savanna zone of West Africa, where potential oviposition sites are scarce, widespread collection from larval pools in the peridomestic human habitat yielded a comprehensive genetic survey of local A. gambiae population subgroups, independent of adult resting behavior and ecological preference. A previously unknown subgroup of exophilic A. gambiae is sympatric with the known endophilic A. gambiae in this region. The exophilic subgroup is abundant, lacks differentiation into M and S molecular forms, and is highly susceptible to infection with wild Plasmodium falciparum. These findings might have implications for the epidemiology of malaria transmission and control.Much of the current genetic knowledge of African malaria vector populations is based on collection and analysis of indoor house-resting (endophilic) mosquitoes. Indoor capture of mosquitoes is often regarded as an unbiased collection method for epidemiologically important vectors of human malaria, including A. gambiae sensu stricto (ss), because they are thought to be 'naturally endophilic' (1). Outdoor-resting (exophilic) mosquitoes can contribute to malaria transmission but are underrepresented or absent from indoor collections, particularly if they also bite outdoors (2-7). Collection methods for exophilic mosquitoes are much less efficient than for indoor-resting mosquitoes, involving variants of i) artificial resting sites such as pits, boxes or pots, ii) manual aspiration from vegetation and holes, or iii) capture of mosquitoes landing on animal or human bait, now largely proscribed due to the risk of infection of human collectors (2). Further highlighting the challenge in sampling exophilic mosquitoes, resting sites thought to harbor large A. gambiae populations during the dry season have resisted detection for decades (8)(9)(10) Genetic division of A. gambiae populations into subgroups allows fine ecological partitioning by the species, mediating the expansion of malaria transmission spatially and temporally. Chromosome inversion polymorphisms define certain subgroups (10,12). Frequency of the 2La inversion follows a geographic cline from the humid Central African forest, where the wild-type 2La+ allele is fixed, north to the arid West African savanna, where the inverted 2La allele is fixed (12). One likely phenotype of the 2La inversion is adaptation to aridity. Another example of niche expansion of A. gambiae by genetic subdivision is represented by two genetically diverged molecular forms, termed M and S (13). These molecular forms are detected by assays for fixed nucleotide differences on the X chromosome (Molecular Form Diagnostic SNPs, MFDS), and display other fixed SNPs in genomic 'speciation islands ' (14). The M form dominates in marginal and disturbed habitats where S is less competitive (15).We collected mosquito larvae from natural breeding pools in an arid...

Arboviruses are transmitted by mosquitoes and other arthropods to humans and animals. The risk associated with these viruses is increasing worldwide, including new emergence in Europe and the Americas. Anopheline mosquitoes are vectors of human malaria but are believed to transmit one known arbovirus, o’nyong-nyong virus, whereas Aedes mosquitoes transmit many. Anopheles interactions with viruses have been little studied, and the initial antiviral response in the midgut has not been examined. Here, we determine the antiviral immune pathways of the Anopheles gambiae midgut, the initial site of viral infection after an infective blood meal. We compare them with the responses of the post-midgut systemic compartment, which is the site of the subsequent disseminated viral infection. Normal viral infection of the midgut requires bacterial flora and is inhibited by the activities of immune deficiency (Imd), JAK/STAT, and Leu-rich repeat immune factors. We show that the exogenous siRNA pathway, thought of as the canonical mosquito antiviral pathway, plays no detectable role in antiviral defense in the midgut but only protects later in the systemic compartment. These results alter the prevailing antiviral paradigm by describing distinct protective mechanisms in different body compartments and infection stages. Importantly, the presence of the midgut bacterial flora is required for full viral infectivity to Anopheles, in contrast to malaria infection, where the presence of the midgut bacterial flora is required for protection against infection. Thus, the enteric flora controls a reciprocal protection tradeoff in the vector for resistance to different human pathogens.

Genetically controlled resistance of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes to Plasmodium falciparum is a common trait in the natural population, and a cluster of natural resistance loci were mapped to the Plasmodium-Resistance Island (PRI) of the A. gambiae genome. The APL1 family of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) proteins was highlighted by candidate gene studies in the PRI, and is comprised of paralogs APL1A, APL1B and APL1C that share ≥50% amino acid identity. Here, we present a functional analysis of the joint response of APL1 family members during mosquito infection with human and rodent Plasmodium species. Only paralog APL1A protected A. gambiae against infection with the human malaria parasite P. falciparum from both the field population and in vitro culture. In contrast, only paralog APL1C protected against the rodent malaria parasites P. berghei and P. yoelii. We show that anti-P. falciparum protection is mediated by the Imd/Rel2 pathway, while protection against P. berghei infection was shown to require Toll/Rel1 signaling. Further, only the short Rel2-S isoform and not the long Rel2-F isoform of Rel2 confers protection against P. falciparum. Protection correlates with the transcriptional regulation of APL1A by Rel2-S but not Rel2-F, suggesting that the Rel2-S anti-parasite phenotype results at least in part from its transcriptional control over APL1A. These results indicate that distinct members of the APL1 gene family display a mutually exclusive protective effect against different classes of Plasmodium parasites. It appears that a gene-for-pathogen-class system orients the appropriate host defenses against distinct categories of similar pathogens. It is known that insect innate immune pathways can distinguish between grossly different microbes such as Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, or fungi, but the function of the APL1 paralogs reveals that mosquito innate immunity possesses a more fine-grained capacity to distinguish between classes of closely related eukaryotic pathogens than has been previously recognized.