3 documents found, page 1 of 1
Fresh-blood-free diet for rearing malaria mosquito vectors
Marques, Joana; Cardoso, João CR; Felix, Rute C.; Santana, Rosa A. G.; Guerra, Maria das Graças Barbosa; Power, Deborah; Silveira, HenriqueMosquito breeding depends on the supply of fresh vertebrate blood, a major bottleneck for large-scale production of Anopheles spp. Feeding alternatives to fresh blood are thus a priority for research, outdoor large-cage trials and control interventions. Several artificial meal compositions were tested and Anopheles oogenesis, egg laying and development into the next generation of adult mosquitoes were followed....
Unravelling the evolution of the Allatostatin-Type A, KISS and Galanin Peptide-...
Felix, Rute C.; Trindade, Marlene; Pires, Isa R. P.; Vera G Fonseca; Martins, Rute S.; Silveira, Henrique; Power, Deborah M.; Cardoso, João CRAllatostatin type A receptors (AST-ARs) are a group of G-protein coupled receptors activated by members of the FGL-amide (AST-A) peptide family that inhibit food intake and development in arthropods. Despite their physiological importance the evolution of the AST-A system is poorly described and relatively few receptors have been isolated and functionally characterised in insects. The present study provides a c...
Plasmodium infection alters Anopheles gambiae detoxification gene expression
Felix, Rute C.; Mueller, Pie; Ribeiro, Vera; Ranson, Hilary; Silveira, HenriqueBackground: Anopheles gambiae has been shown to change its global gene expression patterns upon Plasmodium infection. While many alterations are directly related to the mosquito's innate immune response, parasite invasion is also expected to generate toxic by-products such as free radicals. The current study aimed at identifying which loci coding for detoxification enzymes are differentially expressed as a func...