Biology subjects

Gaviraghi, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Gaviraghi, A..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Activation of innate immunity selectively compromises mitochondrial complex I, proline oxidation and flight activity in the major arbovirus vector Aedes aegypti

Aedes aegypti females are natural vectors of important arboviruses such as Dengue, Zika, and yellow fever. Mosquitoes activate innate immune response signaling pathways upon infection, as a resistance mechanism to fight pathogens and limit their propagation. Despite the beneficial effects of immune activation for insect vectors, phenotypic costs ultimately affect their fitness. However, the underlying mechanisms that mediate these fitness costs remain poorly understood. Given the high energy required to mount a proper immune response, we hypothesized that systemic activation of innate immunity would impair flight muscle mitochondrial function, compromising tissue energy demand and flight activity. Here, we investigated the dynamic effects of activation of innate immunity by intra-thoracic zymosan injection on A. aegypti flight muscle mitochondrial metabolism. Zymosan injection significantly increased defensin expression in fat bodies in a time-dependent manner that compromised flight activity. Although oxidant levels in flight muscle were hardly altered, ATP-linked respiratory rates driven by mitochondrial pyruvate+proline oxidation were significantly reduced at 24h upon zymosan injection. Oxidative phosphorylation coupling was preserved regardless of innate immune response activation along 24h. Importantly, rotenone-sensitive respiration and complex I-III activity were specifically reduced 24h upon zymosan injection. Also, loss of complex I activity compromised ATP-linked and maximal respiratory rates mediated by mitochondrial proline oxidation. Finally, the magnitude of innate immune response activation negatively correlated with respiratory rates, regardless of the metabolic states. Collectively, we demonstrate that activation of innate immunity is strongly associated with reduced flight muscle complex I activity with direct consequences to mitochondrial proline oxidation and flight activity. Remarkably, our results indicate a trade-off between dispersal and immunity exists in an insect vector, underscoring the potential consequences of disrupted flight muscle mitochondrial energy metabolism to arbovirus transmission.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2022

An Aedes aegypti seryl-tRNA synthetase paralog controls bacteroidetes growth in the midgut

Insect gut microbiota plays important roles in host physiology, such as nutrition, digestion, development, fertility, and immunity. We have found that in the intestine of Aedes aegypti, SLIMP (seryl-tRNA synthetase like insect mitochondrial protein) knockdown followed by a blood meal promotes dysbiosis, characterized by the overgrowth of a specific bacterial phylum, Bacteroidetes. In turn, the latter decreased both infection rates and Zika virus prevalence in the mosquitoes. Previous work in Drosophila melanogaster showed that SLIMP is involved in protein synthesis and mitochondrial respiration in a network directly coupled to mtDNA levels. There are no other reports on this enzyme and its function in other insect species. Our work expands the knowledge of the role of these SerRS paralogs. We show that A. aegypti SLIMP (AaeSLIMP) clusters with SLIMPs of the Nematocera sub-order, which have lost both the tRNA binding domain and active site residues, rendering them unable to activate amino acids and aminoacylate tRNAs. Knockdown of AaeSLIMP did not significantly influence the mosquitoes survival, oviposition, or eclosion. It also neither affected midgut cell respiration nor mitochondrial ROS production. However, it caused dysbiosis, which led to the activation of Dual oxidase and resulted in increased midgut ROS levels. Our data indicate that the intestinal microbiota can be controlled in a blood-feeding vector by a novel, unprecedent mechanism, impacting also mosquito vectorial competence towards zika virus and possibly other pathogens as well. Author SummaryAminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS) are a family of ubiquitous enzymes responsible for the attachment of specific amino acids to their cognate tRNAs. During evolution some aaRS acquired new domains and/or suffered gene duplications, resulting in the improvement and expansion of their functions some of them being specific to a group of organisms. A paralog of seryl-tRNA synthetase restricted to the class Insecta (SLIMP) is found in Arthropoda. Our goal was to explore the role of SLIMP in the female mosquito Aedes aegypti using RNA interference. We showed that A. aegypti SLIMP (AaeSLIMP) gene expression is up-regulated upon blood feeding through a heme-dependent signaling. Although AaeSLIMP knockdown neither impacted the mosquito survival nor oviposition, it provoked ROS levels augmentation in the midgut via Dual Oxidase activity in order to control the increase in the intestinal native microbiota, specifically bacteria of the Bacteroidetes phylum. Although dysbiosis can result from mitochondrial impairment, this is the first time that the absence of a mitochondrial enzyme is linked to intestinal microbiota without any visible effects in mitochondrial respiration and mitochondrial ROS production. Furthermore, Zika Virus infection of AaeSLIMP silenced mosquitoes is decreased when comparing to control, meaning that Bacteroidetes overgrowth may be protecting the female mosquito. Our data indicate that the intestinal microbiota can be controlled in a blood-feeding vector by a novel, unprecedent mechanism, impacting also mosquito vectorial competence towards zika virus and possibly other pathogens as well.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2020

A simple and reliable method for longitudinal assessment of untethered mosquito induced flight activity

Aedes aegypti adult females are key vectors of several arboviruses and flight activity plays a central role in mosquito biology and disease transmission. Available methods to quantify mosquito flight usually require special devices and mostly assess spontaneous locomotor activity at individual level. Here, we developed a new method to determine longitudinal untethered adult A. aegypti induced flight activity: the INduced FLight Activity TEst (INFLATE). This method was an adaptation of the "rapid iterative negative geotaxis" assay to assess locomotor activity in Drosophila and explore the spontaneous behavior of mosquito to fly upon a physical stress. Insects were placed on a plastic cage previously divided in four vertical quadrants and flight performance was carried out by tapping cages towards the laboratory bench. After one minute, the number of insects per quadrant was registered by visual inspection and categorized in five different scores. By using INFLATE, we observed that flight performance was not influenced by repeated testing, sex or 5 % ethanol intake. However, induced flight activity was strongly affected by aging, blood meal and inhibition of mitochondrial complex I. This simple and rapid method allows the longitudinal assessment of induced flight activity of multiple untethered mosquitoes and may contribute to a better understanding of A. aegypti dispersal biology.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2019

Mitochondrial glycerol phosphate oxidation is modulated by adenylates through allosteric regulation of cytochrome c oxidase activity in mosquito flight muscle.

The huge energy demand posed by insect flight activity is met by an efficient oxidative phosphorylation process that takes place within flight muscle mitochondria. In the major arbovirus vector Aedes aegypti, mitochondrial oxidation of pyruvate, proline and glycerol 3 phosphate (G3P) represent the major energy sources of ATP to sustain flight muscle energy demand. Although adenylates exert critical regulatory effects on several mitochondrial enzyme activities, the potential consequences of altered adenylate levels to G3P oxidation remains to be determined. Here, we report that mitochondrial G3P oxidation is controlled by adenylates through allosteric regulation of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity in A. aegypti flight muscle. We observed that ADP significantly activated respiratory rates linked to G3P oxidation, in a protonmotive force-independent manner. Kinetic analyses revealed that ADP activates respiration through a slightly cooperative mechanism. Despite adenylates caused no effects on G3P-cytochrome c oxidoreductase activity, COX activity was allosterically activated by ADP. Conversely, ATP exerted powerful inhibitory effects on respiratory rates linked to G3P oxidation and on COX activity. We also observed that high energy phosphate recycling mechanisms did not contribute to the regulatory effects of adenylates on COX activity or G3P oxidation. We conclude that mitochondrial G3P oxidation by A. aegypti flight muscle is regulated by adenylates essentially through the allosteric modulation of COX activity, underscoring the bioenergetic relevance of this novel mechanism and the potential consequences for mosquito dispersal.

biochemistry↗