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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 81(2), 2009, pp. 258-263
Copyright © 2009 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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West Nile Virus Infection Alters Midgut Gene Expression in Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae)

Chelsea T. Smartt*, Stephanie L. Richards, Sheri L. Anderson, AND Jennifer S. Erickson
University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, Vero Beach, Florida; McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Alterations in gene expression in the midgut of female Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus exposed to blood meals containing 6.8 logs plaque-forming units/mL of West Nile virus (WNV) were studied by fluorescent differential display. Twenty-six different cDNAs exhibited reproducible differences after feeding on infected blood. Of these, 21 cDNAs showed an increase in expression, and 5 showed a decrease in expression as a result of WNV presence in the blood meal. GenBank database searches showed that one clone with increased expression, CQ G12A2, shares 94% identity with a leucine-rich repeat-containing protein from Cx. p. quinquefasciatus and 32% identity to Toll-like receptors from Aedes aegypti. We present the first cDNA clone isolated from female Cx. p. quinquefasciatus midgut tissue whose expression changes on exposure to WNV. This cDNA represents a mosquito gene that is an excellent candidate for interacting with WNV in Cx. p. quinquefasciatus and may play a role in disease transmission.

Received March 10, 2009. Accepted for publication May 12, 2009.

Acknowledgments: The authors thank Walter J. Tabachnick and Jonathan F. Day for editorial comments.

Financial support: This project was supported in part by a grant from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (Grants 00072154 and 00077263) to C.T.S. and in part by a grant from the National Institute of Health (Grant AI-49326) to C.C.L.

* Address correspondence to Chelsea T. Smartt, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, 200 9th Street SE, Vero Beach, FL 32962. E-mail: ctsmart{at}ufl.edu

Authors’ addresses: Chelsea T. Smartt, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, 200 9th St. SE, Vero Beach, FL 32962, Tel: 772-778-7200, Fax: 772-778-7205, E-mail: ctsmart{at}ufl.edu. Stephanie L. Richards, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, 200 9th St. SE, Vero Beach, FL 32962, E-mail: slrichar{at}ufl.edu. Sheri L. Anderson, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, 200 9th St. SE, Vero Beach, FL 32962, E-mail: slander{at}ufl.edu. Jennifer S. Erickson, Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M2, E-mail: fishdoc_5{at}hotmail.com.






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Copyright © 2009 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.