Transgene‐mediated suppression of dengue viruses in the salivary glands of the yellow fever mosquito,Aedes aegypti |
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| Authors: | G Mathur I Sanchez‐Vargas D Alvarez K E Olson O Marinotti A A James |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA;2. Arthropod‐borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA;3. and;4. Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Controlled sex‐, stage‐ and tissue‐specific expression of antipathogen effector molecules is important for genetic engineering strategies to control mosquito‐borne diseases. Adult female salivary glands are involved in pathogen transmission to human hosts and are target sites for expression of antipathogen effector molecules. The Aedes aegypti 30K a and 30K b genes are expressed exclusively in adult female salivary glands and are transcribed divergently from start sites separated by 263 nucleotides. The intergenic, 5′‐ and 3′‐end untranslated regions of both genes are sufficient to express simultaneously two different transgene products in the distal‐lateral lobes of the female salivary glands. An antidengue effector gene, membranes no protein (Mnp), driven by the 30K b promoter, expresses an inverted‐repeat RNA with sequences derived from the premembrane protein‐encoding region of the dengue virus serotype 2 genome and reduces significantly the prevalence and mean intensities of viral infection in mosquito salivary glands and saliva. |
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| Keywords: | dengue mosquito salivary glands promoter transgenesis Aedes aegypti |
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