Nutrient accumulation and metabolism in Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito

When raised under less than ideal conditions, mosquitoes emerge smaller and with less nutrient reserves than those raised under standard laboratory conditions. Under "field" conditions, high-nutrient mosquitoes occur less frequently than low-nutrient mosquitoes. Such mosquitoes require a second blood meal in order to successfully produce eggs. This raises their vectorial capacity. Immune function and longevity are also related to size. We conducted a transcriptome analysis of the Ae. aegypti fat body, a key metabolic organ, response to blood feeding, gathered data on the metabolic rate and metabolome of fat bodies from small vs large mosquitoes, pre- and post-bloodmeal. Transcriptome analysis revealed distinct differences in the types of transcripts expressed pre- and post- bloodmeal. Ribosomal protein-encoding transcripts are the prevalent transcript type pre-bloodmeal. Post-bloodmeal, yolk protein transcripts from the cathepsin-b, vitellogenin, vitelline membrane protein and vitellogenic carboxypeptidase families were found to be the vast majority of transcripts present. Metabolomic analysis of small and large mosquito fat bodies, pre- and post-bloodmeal revealed sets of putative metabolomic identifiers for each group, as well as changes affected post-bloodmeal. In conclusion, important transcriptional and metabolomic differences exist between mosquitoes raised under high- and low-nutrient regimens. Many of these differences originate in the fat body and may be important in mosquito reproduction, energy homeostasis and immunity.