RT Journal Article
T1 Experimental reduction of host Plasmodium infection load affects mosquito survival
A1 Gutiérrez López, Rafael
A1 Martínez De la Puente, Josué
A1 Gangoso De La Colina, Laura Esther
A1 Yan, Jiayue
A1 Soriguer, Ramón
A1 Figuerola, Jordi
AB Plasmodium transmission success depends upon the trade-off between the use of host resources to favour parasite reproduction and the negative effects on host health, which can be mediated by infection intensity. Despite its potential influence on parasite dynamics, the effects of infection intensity on both, birds and vectors, and on Plasmodium transmission success are still poorly understood. Here, we experimentally reduced the Plasmodium load in naturally infected wild house sparrows with the antimalarial primaquine to assess the effects of intensity of infection in the vertebrate hosts on Plasmodium transmission to and by mosquitoes. We monitored the survival of Culex pipiens mosquitoes throughout the development of the parasite and the infection status of the mosquitoes by analysing the head-thorax and saliva at 13 days post-exposure to birds. The proportion of mosquitoes infected by Plasmodium and the presence of Plasmodium in saliva were not associated with the medication treatment of birds. However, the experimental treatment affected vector survival with mosquitoes fed on medicated birds showing a higher survival rate than those fed on control individuals. These results provide strong experimental evidence of the impact of parasite load of vertebrate hosts on the survival probability of malaria vectors.
PB Springer Nature
SN 2045-2322
YR 2019
FD 2019
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/110917
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/110917
LA eng
NO Gutiérrez-López, R., Martínez-de la Puente, J., Gangoso, L. et al. Experimental reduction of host Plasmodium infection load affects mosquito survival. Sci Rep 9, 8782 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45143-w
NO This study was funded by projects CGL2012-30759, CGL2015-65055-P and PGC2018-095704-B-100 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. R.G.L. was funded by a FPI grant (BES-2013-065274). J.M.P. was partially supported by a 2017 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation. The Foundation accepts no responsibility for the opinions, statements and contents included in the project and/or the results thereof, which are entirely the responsibility of the authors. L.G. was supported by a postdoctoral contract of project P11-RNM-7038 from the Junta de Andalucía and by a Marie Curie Fellowship of the European Commission (grant number 747729, “EcoEvoClim”). J.Y. was supported by the State Scholarship Found from the China Scholarship Council.
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO Fundación BBVA
NO Junta de Andalucía
NO European Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 11 abr 2025