2024/09/25 by Lindsay E. Martin, M. M. Mangas Ruiz, Julián F. Hillyer · 1 voice · 6 citations
Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · #Invertebrate Immune Response Mechanisms #Malaria Research and Control #Mosquito-borne diseases and control
paper · pdf · doi:10.1242/jeb.248149
openalex publication_date 2024/09/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Mosquitoes cannot use metabolism to regulate their body temperature and therefore climate warming is altering their physiology. Mosquitoes also experience a physiological decline with aging, a phenomenon called senescence. Because both high temperature and aging are detrimental to mosquitoes, we hypothesized that high temperatures accelerate senescence. Here, we investigated how temperature and aging, independently and interactively, shape the antimicrobial immune response of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Using a zone-of-inhibition assay that measures the antimicrobial activity of hemolymph, we found that antimicrobial activity increases following infection. Moreover, in infected mosquitoes, antimicrobial activity weakens as the temperature rises to 32°C, and antimicrobial activity increases from 1 to 5 days of age and stabilizes with further aging. Importantly, in E. coli-infected mosquitoes, higher temperature causes an aging-dependent decline in antimicrobial activity. Altogether, this study demonstrates that higher temperature can accelerate immune senescence in infected mosquitoes, thereby interactively shaping their ability to fight an infection.