Sex-specific transcriptomic response of Anopheles gambiae to O'nyong Nyong virus infection

O’nyong’nyong virus (ONNV) is an arbovirus of the genus Alphavirus which is transmitted to humans primarily by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. Here, An. stephensi males and females have been infected with ONNV to investigate their differential transcriptional response to infection. Males and female An. gambiae were injected with either a suspension of ONNV or sterile medium as a control and underwent pooled RNA extraction at 2- and 7-days post infection (DPI). Differential expression will be performed on pooled RNA samples to determine which genes are differentially regulated between males and females in response to infection, and which genes are activated or repressed in each sex as infection progresses. Further, genes identified as being regulated by infection or that differ in expression between males and females will be used to perform gene ontology (GO) analysis to determine what pre-identified gene sets are regulated under the scenarios being examined. 24 total samples have total RNA sequenced from 2 different time points, (2 and 7 days post infection). 3 replicates are sequenced from each time point, infection status (O’nyong’nyong infected or control), and sex (male or female). Differential expression on read counts mapping to known genes in the AgamP4.12 genome is conducted to determine genes regulated in response to infection at different time points and how this response differs by sex.