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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2016 Jul 12;76:70–83. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2016.07.004

Fig 9. Aedronc and Casps7 knockdown reduces autophagy in midgut.

Fig 9

(A) MR females 2-3 days post eclosion were co-injected with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), and dsB-gal, dsAedronc, dsCasps7 or mixture of dsATG1, dsATG5 and dsATG7 (ATG). 48 HPI, mosquitoes were fed either a control or DENV-2 infected artificial blood meal. At 3 d PBM, midguts were dissected out and analyzed for ATG8 by western blot. Densitometry analysis was used to quantify the ratio of total ATG8 to α-tubulin. (n=3-4 replicates; 10 pooled midguts per replicate). Total ATG8/α-tubulin was reduced in midguts of mosquitoes co-injected with HCQ and dsAedronc, dsCasps7 or dsATG compared to midguts from those treated with HCQ and dsB-gal. Data represent means of replicates. Error bars represent standard error of means. Statistical comparisons were performed using Student's t-test of ratios of total ATG8/α-tubulin between groups * p<0.05; *** p<0.001. (B) Model for caspase control of autophagy. Following a blood meal, Aedronc is needed for transcriptional activation of or stability of Casps7 transcript. Casps7 can activate apoptosis or autophagy, but is guided to activate autophagy following a blood meal, possibly with the help of other apoptosis-related proteins. Autophagy may be associated with DENV-2 infection of midgut cells wherein it attenuates the apoptotic program and increases infection.