Laminin and the malaria parasite's journey through the mosquito midgut

Romanico B.G. Arrighi, Gareth Lycett, Vassiliki Mahairaki, Inga Siden-Kiamos, Christos Louis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

During the invasion of the mosquito midgut epithelium, Plasmodium ookinetes come to rest on the basal lamina, where they transform into the sporozoite-producing oocysts. Laminin, one of the basal lamina's major components, has previously been shown to bind several surface proteins of Plasmodium ookinetes. Here, using the recently developed RNAi technique in mosquitoes, we used a specific dsRNA construct targeted against the LANB2 gene (laminin γ1) of Anopheles gambiae to reduce its mRNA levels, leading to a substantial reduction in the number of successfully developed oocysts in the mosquito midgut. Moreover, this molecular relationship is corroborated by the intimate association of developing P. berghei parasites and laminin in the gut, as observed using confocal microscopy. Our data support the notion of laminin playing a functional role in the development of the malaria parasite within the mosquito midgut.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2497-2502
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Experimental Biology
Volume208
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Anopheles gambiae
  • Basal lamina
  • Ookinete
  • Plasmodium berghei
  • RNAi

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Physiology
  • Aquatic Science
  • Animal Science and Zoology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Insect Science

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