Fig 1. Apoptotic gene expression following a DENV-infected blood meal.

(A-C) MS (susceptible strain) and MR (refractory strain) females 4-5 days post eclosion were fed a naïve artificial blood meal and qPCR was performed on RNA extracted from whole mosquitoes collected at 0, 24, 48, and 72 h post blood meal (PBM). Expression of (A) Aedronc, (B) AeIAP1, and (C) Mx was analyzed. Expression is represented as Relative Quantitation (RQ) compared to samples collected before a blood meal. Apoptosis genes showed significant transcriptional upregulation following blood meal compared to females 0 h PBM. Each data point represents mean expression (n=3 replicates; pools of 5 whole mosquitoes per replicate). (D-F) 2-3 day old adult MS and MR females were fed either control or DENV-2 JAM1409-supplemented artificial blood meals. At 24 and 48 h PBM, either whole mosquitoes or midguts were collected and tested for expression of (D) Aedronc, (E) AeIAP1, or (F) Mx transcript. Data represent ratio of transcript of DENV-2-fed to control-fed females (n=3-5 replicates; individual replicates represent the mean of 5 pooled whole females or 10 pooled midguts). Error bars represent standard errors of means. Statistical comparisons were performed using (A-C) two-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey HSD test to identify significant PBM differences relative to 0 h PBM or (D-F) Student's t-test to compare ratios of transcript of DENV-2-fed to control-fed females between MS and MR. *p<0.05; **p<0.01 within strain comparison between 0 h PBM and time point. ⁺⁺p<0.01 between strain comparison.