A non‑destructive sugar‑feeding assay for parasite detection and estimating the extrinsic incubation period of Plasmodium falciparum in individual mosquito vectors
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Date
2021-05-29
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Scientific Reports
Abstract
Despite its epidemiological importance, the time Plasmodium parasites take to achieve development
in the vector mosquito (the extrinsic incubation period, EIP) remains poorly characterized. A novel
non‑destructive assay designed to estimate EIP in single mosquitoes, and more broadly to study
Plasmodium–Anopheles vectors interactions, is presented. The assay uses small pieces of cotton
wool soaked in sugar solution to collect malaria sporozoites from individual mosquitoes during sugar
feeding to monitor infection status over time. This technique has been tested across four natural
malaria mosquito species of Africa and Asia, infected with Plasmodium falciparum (six field isolates
from gametocyte‑infected patients in Burkina Faso and the NF54 strain) and across a range of
temperatures relevant to malaria transmission in field conditions. Monitoring individual infectious
mosquitoes was feasible. The estimated median EIP of P. falciparum at 27 °C was 11 to 14 days
depending on mosquito species and parasite isolate. Long‑term individual tracking revealed that
sporozoites transfer onto cotton wool can occur at least until day 40 post‑infection. Short individual
EIP were associated with short mosquito lifespan. Correlations between mosquito/parasite traits often
reveal trade‑offs and constraints and have important implications for understanding the evolution of
parasite transmission strategies
Description
Keywords
Plasmodium parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, Andrew S. Bell, Eunho Suh, Burkina Faso, Université Nazi Boni, CEA-ITECH_MTV, ACE: Bio-technological Innovation for the Elimination of Vector- Borne Diseases