Oral Presentation 8th International Conference on Plasmodium vivax Research 2022

Molecular dynamics of mosquito gut-microbiome interaction and Plasmodium vivax development:  a mechanistic insight on parasitism (80327)

Sanjay Tavetiya 1 , Seena Kumari 1 , Punita Sharma 1 , Charu Chauhan 1 , Rajnikant Dixit 1
  1. ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, Delhi, New Delhi, DELHI, India

Malaria transmission dynamics are heavily influenced by a mosquito–parasite interaction. For its sexual development, immediately after ingestion of an infected blood meal, Plasmodium needs to sense, adapt and improvise to a microenvironment in the mosquito host. Microbiota in the midgut modulates the vector competency of mosquitoes. The microbiota grows exponentially following uptake of blood meal and leads to robust enhancement of mosquito immune response which is detrimental to parasite survival and development. Our gut-meta-transcriptomic study reveals that during the pre-gut invasion phase, Plasmodium vivax steer clear of mosquito immune response by suppression of bacterial population (presumably by scavenging Fe from the blood meal which is indispensable for bacterial growth) for its own development. During the plasmodium journey within the vector, it invades different tissues of the vector and is subjected to vector immune response, metabolic fluctuation. The complex tissue-specific interaction between host and parasite at the molecular level is still a conundrum. Our RNAseq analysis demonstrates that the switch of parasites from one stage to another stage within mosquito vectors is accompanied by genetic changes of the parasite which enables the parasite to evade the multifaceted immune response generated by the vector and to manipulate the metabolism of mosquito tissues for its own survival and transmission. Disruption of this peculiar tissue-specific interaction may help to design a new molecular tool to halt the plasmodium development within vector mosquitoes.