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Fig. 3 | Parasites & Vectors

Fig. 3

From: Bacillus sphaericus exposure reduced vector competence of Anopheles dirus to Plasmodium yoelii by upregulating the Imd signaling pathway

Fig. 3

Depletion of AdTEP1 through RNAi gene silencing resulted in changes of P. yoelii oocyst intensity in Bs-treated and untreated mosquitoes. a Transcript variation of AdTEP1 in different groups after gene silencing by dsRNA. b The knockdown efficiencies of the control group and Bs group were 75.03% and 72.4%, respectively. c Three days post-dsRNA injection, western blot using AdTEP1-specific antibody showed that AdTEP1 protein was reduced in AdTEP1-dsRNA injection mosquitoes than that of GFP-dsRNA injection and normal mosquitoes both in the control and Bs groups. For each sample, total protein amount was determined by bicinchoninic acid assay, and an equal amount of protein was loaded for SDS-PAGE separation. Western blot with anti-actin antibody served as another loading control. d Three days post-dsRNA injection, the relative TEP1 protein expression in the control and Bs group decreased by 58.6% and 51.2%, respectively. e Plasmodium yoelii infection intensity (i.e. oocyst load) was increased in AdTEP1 dsRNA-treated mosquitoes both in control and Bs groups. No significant difference (P = 0.183) of oocyst loads was observed between the control TEP1 dsRNA-treated and Bs TEP1 dsRNA-treated groups. Points indicate the absolute value of parasite counts in individual mosquitoes. A Mann-Whitney U-test was used to determine the significance of differences in oocyst numbers. f Oocysts shown on the midguts of mosquitoes under a fluorescence microscope. Abbreviations: N, normal mosquitoes; dsGFP, GFP dsRNA-injected mosquitoes; dsTEP1, AdTEP1 dsRNA-injected mosquitoes

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