Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
Volume 208, Issue 13, Pages 2497-2502Publisher
COMPANY BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.01664
Keywords
Anopheles gambiae; basal lamina; ookinete; Plasmodium berghei; RNAi
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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 gamma 1) 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.
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