Previous work from this laboratory has shown that when crude extracts of Culex pipiens midgut (MGE), ovaries (OVE), and salivary glands (SGE) are injected into New Zealand White rabbits, MGE-immunized rabbits exerted the greatest negative impact on adult Cx pipiens survival and fecundity in two successive generations. To further our understanding of the immunogenic nature of the MGE antigenic preparation, we fractionated the crude extract using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We then excised the high (>80.0 to 106.0 kDa) and low (<18.5 kDa) MW polypeptides of MGE and used them to immunize rabbits. Anti-sera from the immunized rabbits were collected and assayed for antibody response using ELISA, EIB assay, and IFA on days 0, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 100 post-immunization. When Cx. pipiens were fed on rabbits immunized with the low MW fractions, the fecundity and survival rates were significantly less than those of mosquitoes fed on control rabbits (p < 0.001). Results indicated that the low MW fraction of MGE is highly immunogenic and the antibody response of immunized rabbits contributed to a significant disturbance in the life cycle of Cx. pipiens. This, in turn, could interfere with pathogen transmission.
Species 1: Diptera Culicidae Culex pipiens (house mosquito)
Keywords: immune response, mosquito control
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA