Fig. 5.

The silencing of PPOs influences Plasmodium oocyst survival. The influence of PPO2, PPO3, and PPO9 silencing on Plasmodium oocysts numbers in An. gambiae was evaluated 8 d postinfection compared with dsGFP controls (A). To determine whether gene silencing influences the success of ookinete invasion, similar experiments were performed in which early oocyst numbers were used as a readout of ookinete survival 2 d postinfection (B). For all experiments, each dot represents the number of parasites on an individual midgut, with the median value denoted by a horizontal red line. Data were pooled from 3 or more independent experiments with statistical analysis determined by a Mann–Whitney test using GraphPad Prism 6.0. Asterisks denote significance (*P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001).