Role of miRNAs-mediated expression of aquaporin (AsAQPs) over winter and cold resistance of Anopheles sinensis

Anopheles sinensis, as the major vector of malaria in China, survives in winter as adult mosquitoes and the number of the population reduces significantly at the time, thus the transmission ability of the diseases reduced as well. Little was known about the molecular mechanism about the An. sinensis over wintering. During freezing environment, whether an organism survives often depends on the ability to manage its body water and cryoprotectants as glycerol. Aquaporins (AQPs), which rapidly redistribute water and certain small solutes across the cell membrane, are tightly associated with physiological response and survival of osmotic challenge risk caused such as cold. MicroRNA are small non-coding RNAs capable of regulating AQPs genes expression. It has been proved that there are two AQPs expressed in An. sinensis, they have function of either transport water or glycerol and expressed significantly different during cold. Based on fact that two AsAQPs were discovered, the hypothesis is that the unique functions of AsAQPs may related the low temperature resistance ability of mosquitoes during winter and miRNAs could selectively regulate the activity of AsAQPs. The project is for the characterization of the function of AsAQPs during low temperature, to confirm that AsAQPs are key point for mosquitoes to survive during cold stress，and to explore the possibility of identifying miRNAs that could selectively modulate their expression, which will provide the information on the molecular mechanism of mosquitoes overwintering and produce data on the strategy-design of mosquitoes control.

Basic Science

Jan 2015 — Dec 2017

$35,187

China