Plant-mediated effects on mosquito capacity to transmit human malaria

The ecological context in which mosquitoes and malaria parasites interact has received little attention, compared to the genetic and molecular aspects of malaria transmission. Plant nectar and fruits are important for the nutritional ecology of malaria vectors, but how the natural diversity of plant-derived sugar sources affects mosquito competence for malaria parasites is unclear. To test this, we infected Anopheles coluzzi, an important African malaria vector, with sympatric field isolates of Plasmodium falciparum, using direct membrane feeding assays. Through a series of experiments, we then examined the effects of sugar meals from Thevetia neriifolia and Barleria lupilina cuttings that included flowers, and fruit from Lannea microcarpa and Mangifera indica on parasite and mosquito traits that are key for determining the intensity of malaria transmission. We found that the source of plant sugar meal differentially affected infection prevalence and intensity, the development duration ...

相较于疟疾传播的遗传与分子层面研究，蚊子与疟原虫互作的生态背景长期以来受关注甚少。植物花蜜与果实对疟疾媒介蚊类的营养生态学至关重要，但植物源糖源的自然多样性如何影响蚊子对疟原虫的媒介效能，目前仍不明确。为验证这一科学问题，我们采用直接膜喂食实验（direct membrane feeding assays），以恶性疟原虫（Plasmodium falciparum）的同域野外分离株感染非洲重要疟疾媒介——科鲁兹按蚊（Anopheles coluzzi）。随后通过一系列实验，我们探究了含花的柳叶黄蝉（Thevetia neriifolia）、羽裂假杜鹃（Barleria lupilina）枝条的糖餐，以及厚皮树（Lannea microcarpa）、芒果（Mangifera indica）果实的糖餐，对决定疟疾传播强度的关键寄生虫与蚊子相关性状的影响。研究发现，植物糖餐的来源会差异影响感染率与感染强度、寄生虫发育时长……