Figure 4. Penicillium chrysogenum does not modulate DENV infection in Aedes mosquito midguts, while Tsp_PR render An. gambiae more susceptible to Plasmodium infection.

Penicillium chrysogenum was isolated from field-caught Anopheles sp. mosquitoes and re-introduced into Aedes mosquitoes to test the modulation of DENV infection. Aedes Orlando strain was mock-fed or fed for 48 hr with a 10% sucrose solution containing (A) 1 × 10⁹ P. chrysogenum spores (Control, N = 61; P. chrysogenum, N = 47) or (B) fungus-secreted molecules (Control, N = 68; P. chrysogenum, N = 53). After fungus feeding, the mosquitoes were infected with a blood meal containing DENV; at 7 days post-infection (dpi), the midguts were dissected. Each dot represents a PFU value in individual midguts from three independent experiments. The line indicates the mean. (C) Influence of Tsp_PR on P. falciparum infection of An. gambiae, as a measured by oocyst numbers 7 days after feeding on a P. falciparum gametocyte culture (infection intensity). The mosquito cohort (N = 79) that had been exposed to a Tsp_PR -laced sucrose solution for 48 hr prior to parasite infection had a significantly higher P. falciparum infection than did the non-fungus-exposed control cohort (N = 76). Graphs show three independent experiments. Each dot represents a single midgut, and bars represent the mean. *p<0.05.