Journal
JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS
Volume 33, Issue 3, Pages 272-288Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0748730418772175
Keywords
mosquitoes; light entrainment; temperature entrainment; clock genes; locomotor activity
Categories
Funding
- CNPq
- FAPERJ
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) [401.857/2014-0]
- CAPES
- Fundacao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) [E-26/102.274/2010]
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Most organisms feature an endogenous circadian clock capable of synchronization with their environment. The most well-known synchronizing agents are light and temperature. The circadian clock of mosquitoes, vectors of many pathogens, drives important behaviors related to vectoral capacity, including oviposition, host seeking, and hematophagy. Main clock gene expression, as well as locomotor activity patterns, has been identified in Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus under artificial light-dark cycles. Given that these mosquito species thrive in tropical areas, it is reasonable to speculate that temperature plays an important role in the circadian clock. Here, we provide data supporting a different hierarchy of light and temperature as zeitgebers of two mosquito species. We recorded their locomotor activity and quantified mRNA expression of the main clock genes in several combinations of light and temperature cycles. We observed that A. aegypti is more sensitive to temperature, while C. quinquefasciatus is more responsive to light. These variations in clock gene expression and locomotor activity may have affected the mosquito species' metabolism, energy expenditure, fitness cost, and pathogen transmission efficiency. Our findings are relevant to chronobiology studies and also have epidemiological implications.
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