Seminal fluid proteins induce transcriptome changes in the Aedes aegypti female lower reproductive tract

Abstract

Background Mating induces behavioral and physiological changes in the arbovirus vector Aedes aegypti, including stimulation of egg development and oviposition, increased survival, and reluctance to re-mate with subsequent males. Transferred seminal fluid proteins and peptides derived from the male accessory glands induce these changes, though the mechanism by which they do this is not known. Results To determine transcriptome changes induced by seminal proteins, we injected extract from male accessory glands and seminal vesicles (MAG extract) into females and examined female lower reproductive tract (LRT) transcriptomes 24 h later, relative to non-injected controls. MAG extract induced 87 transcript-level changes, 31 of which were also seen in a previous study of the LRT 24 h after a natural mating, including 15 genes with transcript-level changes similarly observed in the spermathecae of mated females. The differentially-regulated genes are involved in diverse molecular processes, including immunity, proteolysis, neuronal function, transcription control, or contain predicted small-molecule binding and transport domains. Conclusions Our results reveal that seminal fluid proteins, specifically, can induce gene expression responses after mating and identify gene targets to further investigate for roles in post-mating responses and potential use in vector control.

Más que ovulos y esperma: factores masculinos, femeninos, y ambientales que influyen en la reproducción de mosquitos de Aedes y Anopheles

“…Además, el apareamiento inhibe la convergencia armónica de las hembras (League et al 2019), un posible mecanismo para evitar un nuevo apareamiento. Al igual que en D. melanogaster, la copulación induce cambios en la expresión génica en los tejidos del tracto reproductivo femenino (Alfonso-Parra et al 2016;Camargo et al 2020;Pascini et al 2020), y algunos de estos genes responden directamente a la recepción de las SFPs (Amaro et al 2021). Estudios iniciales sugirieron que el apareamiento alteraba los comportamientos de búsqueda de huéspedes y el tamaño de la comida de 5/13 de una proteína seminal: Head-Peptide I (HP-I).…”

“…aegypti, o la recepción de 20E en An. gambiae induce cambios transcripcionales en los tejidos del tracto reproductivo femenino (Rogers et al 2008;Gabrieli et al 2014;Shaw et al 2014;Alfonso-Parra et al 2016;Camargo et al 2020;Pascini et al 2020;Reynolds et al 2020;Amaro et al 2021). En Ae.…”

“…Incluso, solo un subconjunto de genes del tracto reproductivo femenino de Ae. aegypti regulados por el apareamiento, se expresan en las espermatecas (Alfonso-Parra et al 2016;Camargo et al 2020;Amaro et al 2021), lo que sugiere que otros tejidos del sistema reproductor producen moléculas importantes en los procesos fisiológicos posteriores al apareamiento.…”

On the Role of Seminal Fluid Protein and Nucleic Acid Content in the Paternal Epigenetic Inheritance

“…Females show transcriptional responses to mating [158], and several gene expression studies have repeatedly found evidence of seminal fluid-mediated gene regulations in mated females in D. melanogaster including genes related to egg development, immunity, nutrient sensing, and behavior [158][159][160][161]. A recent study has also showed that receiving seminal fluid triggers a wide transcriptional regulation in female reproductive tissues in mosquitos [162]. Although it is clear that receiving seminal fluid causes transcriptional regulation in females, our knowledge on the mechanisms and pathways of how seminal fluid involves in these processes is scarce.…”

On the Role of Seminal Fluid Protein and Nucleic Acid Content in Paternal Epigenetic Inheritance

“…In boars, the exosomes present in seminal fluid have been shown to be involved in gene regulation in the uterus [ 169 ]. Females show transcriptional responses to mating [ 170 , 171 ], and several gene expression studies have repeatedly found evidence of Sfc-induced gene regulation in mated females in insects as well [ 160 , 170 , 172 , 173 , 174 , 175 ].…”