Both infected and uninfected mosquitoes are attracted toward malaria infected birds - PubMed (original) (raw)

Both infected and uninfected mosquitoes are attracted toward malaria infected birds

Stéphane Cornet et al. Malar J. 2013.

Abstract

Background: The biting behaviour of mosquitoes is crucial for the transmission of malaria parasites. This study focuses on the feeding behaviour of Culex pipiens mosquitoes with regard to the infection status by the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum (lineage SGS1).

Methods: Uninfected and sporozoite-infected mosquitoes were provided with a choice between an uninfected bird and a bird undergoing a chronic P. relictum infection. Mosquito choice is assessed by microsatellite typing of the ingested blood.

Results: Chronically infected birds are more attractive to mosquitoes. This choice is not altered by the infection status of the mosquitoes: both infected and uninfected mosquitoes have similar host choice behaviours and are more attracted towards infected birds.

Conclusions: These results support some, but not all predictions derived from the hypothesis that malaria parasites can manipulate the behaviour of their mosquito vectors to enhance their transmission. The possible mechanisms driving this manipulation, the evolutionary dynamics leading to the modification of the biting behaviour of mosquitoes by Plasmodium sp. as well as the implications for malaria epidemiology are discussed.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Proportion of blood-fed mosquitoes retrieved after the behavioural assays according to the infection status of mosquitoes (sporozoite-infected vs uninfected by Plasmodium relictum ). (A) Total blood feeding success. (B) Multihost biting. Boxes are interquartile ranges, thick lines are medians and bars enclose 90% of the distribution.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Attractiveness of canaries infected by Plasmodium relictum to Culex pipiens mosquitoes according to their status of infection by Plasmodium relictum (infected by sporozoites, uninfected). Bird attractiveness refers to the proportion of mosquitoes that bit the infected bird relative to the number of blood-fed mosquitoes. (A) Raw data. Boxes are interquartile ranges, thick lines are medians and bars enclose 90% of the distribution. The dotted line represents the proportion in the absence of choice (p = 0.5). (B) Relationships between bird attractiveness of the infected bird and differential haematocrit, which refers to the difference in haematocrit between the infected bird and the uninfected control bird within pairs. Uninfected mosquitoes: open circle, dashed line; sporozoite-infected mosquitoes: dark circle, full line. Lines are the fits of GLM models.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Covariation between the proportion of uninfected vs. sporozoite-infected mosquitoes biting the bird infected with Plasmodium relictum. The significant positive relationship (dash line) highlights that, independently of the intrinsic attractiveness of the infected bird, infected and uninfected mosquitoes had a similar host-choice preference. The dotted lines represent the proportion in the absence of choice (p = 0.5).

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