Mosquito metallomics reveal copper and iron as critical factors for Plasmodium infection.

• Published in: PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Krystal Maya-Maldonado, Victor Cardoso-Jaime, Gabriela González-Olvera, Beatriz Osorio, Benito Recio-Tótoro, Pablo Manrique-Saide, Iram Pablo Rodríguez-Sánchez, Humberto Lanz-Mendoza, Fanis Missirlis, Fidel de la Cruz Hernández-Hernández
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic; Stripe
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009509; https://doaj.org/article/dbe9eeb4d81b4a2ca57b85a7c8d2251b

Iron and copper chelation restricts Plasmodium growth in vitro and in mammalian hosts. The parasite alters metal homeostasis in red blood cells to its favor, for example metabolizing hemoglobin to hemozoin. Metal interactions with the mosquito have not, however, been studied. Here, we describe the metallomes of Anopheles albimanus and Aedes aegypti throughout their life cycle and following a blood meal. Consistent with previous reports, we found evidence of maternal iron deposition in embryos of Ae. aegypti, but less so in An. albimanus. Sodium, potassium, iron, and copper are present at higher concentrations during larval developmental stages. Two An. albimanus phenotypes that differ in their susceptibility to Plasmodium berghei infection were studied. The susceptible white stripe (ws) phenotype was named after a dorsal white stripe apparent during larval stages 3, 4, and pupae. During larval stage 3, ws larvae accumulate more iron and copper than the resistant brown stripe (bs) phenotype counterparts. A similar increase in copper and iron accumulation was also observed in the susceptible ws, but not in the resistant bs phenotype following P. berghei infection. Feeding ws mosquitoes with extracellular iron and copper chelators before and after receiving Plasmodium-infected blood protected from infection and simultaneously affected follicular development in the case of iron chelation. Unexpectedly, the application of the iron chelator to the bs strain reverted resistance to infection. Besides a drop in iron, iron-chelated bs mosquitoes experienced a concomitant loss of copper. Thus, the effect of metal chelation on P. berghei infectivity was strain-specific.