Data from: Complex environmental drivers of immunity and resistance in malaria mosquitoes

Considerable research effort has been directed at understanding the
genetic and molecular basis of mosquito innate immune mechanisms. Whether
environmental factors interact with these mechanisms to shape overall
resistance remains largely unexplored. Here we examine how changes in mean
ambient temperature, diurnal temperature fluctuation, and time of day of
infection affected the immunity and resistance of Anopheles stephensi to
infection with Escherichia coli. We used quantitative PCR to estimate the
gene expression of three immune genes in response to challenge with
heat-killed Escherichia coli. We also infected mosquitoes with live E.
coli and ran bacterial survival assays to quantify host resistance. Both
mosquito immune parameters and resistance were directly affected by mean
temperature, diurnal temperature fluctuation, and time of day of
infection. Furthermore there was a suite of complex 2- and 3-way
interactions yielding idiosyncratic phenotypic variation under different
environmental conditions. The results demonstrate mosquito immunity and
resistance to be strongly influenced by a complex interplay of
environmental variables, challenging the interpretation of the very many
mosquito immune studies conducted under standard laboratory conditions.