A collaborative international team of scientists has found a remarkable world-first. To this end, they have published the world’s first comprehensive cellular atlas of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, aka the yellow fever mosquito. With the Aedes aegypti Mosquito Cell Atlas Consortium, we are advancing an unprecedented, collaborative approach. Their goal is to discover new information about the biology and behavior of this important disease-spreading mosquito.
Scientists at the Salk Institute created the atlas in part to snRNA-seq, a new high-resolution technology to study gene activity. In analyzing 367,000 nuclei from 19 different types of mosquito tissues, Dr. The selected tissues were categorized across five biological themes: major body segments, sensation and host-seeking mechanisms, viral infection responses, reproductive functions, and central nervous system structures.
Within this massive atlas, researchers defined 69 different cell types. They delineated these cell types into 14 large groups, most of which had not been previously identified. Interestingly, the study found that the mosquito brain is made up of around 90% neurons and under 10% glia. Most intriguingly, glial cells showed the most prominent changes in gene expression after blood feeding.
Female mosquito brains were examined at various intervals—3, 12, 24, and 48 hours post-blood meal—uncovering dramatic changes in gene expression patterns. Researchers observed that gene expression was highest immediately following a blood meal and then decreased steadily over the next few hours.
The atlas showed us that these multifunctional sensory neurons are quite abundant throughout the rest of the body. Specifically, they are located in the nose, tongue, and legs. Just like male mosquitoes, female mosquitoes love to feed on nectar. For females, they require blood to obtain the protein necessary for forming their eggs and nourishing future generations.
One other especially fascinating develop illuminates an unexpected cluster of decentralized cells. These cells are characterized by an unusual Y-linked gene that is silenced in all the female tissues examined. This gene was restricted to male antennae, a tissue that is mostly understudied so far.
“This is a global resource that has been open to everyone since the very inception of the project in 2021, so many people are already using it,” said Leslie Vosshall, a prominent researcher involved in the project.
Shai, another key contributor, added, “The sheer size of the dataset opens up many new avenues of research that people couldn’t study before because they didn’t have this tool.”
The Vosshall lab looks forward to exploring the mosquito single-cell atlas. Specifically, they want to address behaviors such as host seeking, environmental sensing, and more. Vosshall emphasized the importance of studying both sexes: “Because the female is the one that’s spreading all the pathogens, there is an enormous bias toward looking at the biology of the female and very little information about the male.”
The publication of this atlas represents a major step forward in the field of mosquito science. It serves as a great primer, invaluable resource for vector biologists and a fantastic point of entry to all things mosquito biology and behavior.