Making a meal of it: Mosquito spit protein controls blood feeding
Sunday, May 12, 2019 - 10:43
in Biology & Nature
Researchers developed a transgenic approach to inactivating the mosquito salivary protein AAPP. Transgenic mosquitoes showed significantly longer probing and prediuresis times, and worse feeding success and meal sizes compared with their wild-type counterparts. Although malarial parasite development was unaffected by these behavioral changes in a laboratory setting, real-world stresses associated with parasite burdens would be expected to adversely affect the survival of transgenic mosquitoes.