Transgenic Mosquitoes Expressing a Phospholipase A2 Gene Have a Fitness Advantage When Fed Plasmodium falciparum-Infected Blood
Figure 2
mPLA2-transgenic mosquitoes inhibit Plasmodium oocyst formation.
Wild type and transgenic An. stephensi lines were fed on P. berghei-infected mice (A) or on P. falciparum gametocyte cultures (B). Data from three independent experiments were pooled in both (A) and (B). Transgenic mosquitoes obtained from colony cages (mixed homozygous and homozygous for the transgene) were used for P. berghei blocking experiments, while transgenic mosquitoes hemizygous for the transgene were used for P. falciparum experiments. The prevalence of infection (% infected/total) was lower for both transgenic lines in experiments with P. berghei, but only the AP (+) line with P. falciparum. This reduction in prevalence was analyzed by Chi-squared analysis and determined to be not significant. The horizontal red line denotes the median oocyst number for each experiment. N: number of mosquitoes analyzed. Results were analyzed using by a Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric one-way ANOVA and Dunn’s post-test to determine significance. Significant differences are denoted by asterisks: **=(P<0.01), ***=(P<0.001), n.s.: not significant.
