Table 2. Determination of transmission efficacy in vivo.
Transmission efficacy of trap(-), trapΔI, TRAP-I, MIC2-I, αX-I, αL-I and RevCharge as well as the wild type (wt) reference line. Prepatency is the time between sporozoite infection and the first observance of blood stages and is given as the mean of all positive mice of the respective experiment(s). C57BL/6 mice were either injected intravenously (i.v.) with 10,000 salivary gland sporozoites (SGS) or 10,000 hemolymph sporozoites (HLS) or exposed to 10 mosquitoes that received an infected blood meal. Note that mosquitoes infected with fluorescent parasite lines were pre-selected while mosquitoes infected with non-fluorescent parasites were not pre-selected but dissected afterwards to ensure that all mice were bitten by at least one infected mosquito. For strains with strongly decreased salivary gland invasion capacity (aX-I and aL-I) no SGS but 25,000 HLS were injected.
| Parasite line | Route of inoculation | Infected Mice‡ | Prepatency (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| wild type ANKA | by mosquito bite§ | 4/4 | 3.0 |
| wild type ANKA | 10,000 HLS | 4/4 | 3.0 |
| TRAP-I fluo | by mosquito bite§ | 4/4 | 3.0 |
| TRAP-I fluo | 500,000 MGS | 1/1† | 8.0 |
| TRAP-I fluo | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 4/4 | 4.0 |
| TRAP-I fluo | 10,000 SGS (i.v.) | 4/4 | 3.0 |
| MIC2-I fluo | by mosquito bite§ | 4/4 | 3.0 |
| MIC2-I fluo | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 4/4 | 3.8 |
| MIC2-I fluo | 10,000 SGS (i.v.) | 8/8 | 3.1 |
| αX-I fluo | by mosquito bite§ | 0/4 | /* |
| αX-I fluo | 500,000 MGS (i.v.) | 2/4 | 8.0 |
| αX-I fluo | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 1/4 | 6.0 |
| αX-I fluo | 25,000 HLS (i.v.) | 5/8 | 5.5 |
| αL-I fluo | by mosquito bite§ | 0/4 | /* |
| αL-I fluo | 500,000 MGS (i.v.) | 0/2 | /* |
| αL-I fluo | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 0/4 | /* |
| αL-I fluo | 25,000 HLS (i.v.) | 1/6 | 5.0 |
| trap(-) | 500,000 MGS (i.v.) | 0/4 | /* |
| trap(-) | 25,000 HLS (i.v.) | 0/6 | /* |
| trap∆I | by mosquito bite¶ | 0/4 | /* |
| trap∆I | 500,000 MGS (i.v.) | 0/6 | /* |
| trap∆I | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 0/4 | /* |
| trap∆I | 25,000 HLS (i.v.) | 0/4 | /* |
| trap∆I | 5,000 SGS (i.v.) | 0/4 | /* |
| TRAP-I | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 4/4 | 3.0 |
| MIC2-I | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 4/4 | 4.0 |
| αX-I | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 3/4 | 5.3 |
| αL-I | 10,000 HLS (i.v.) | 0/4 | /* |
| RevCharge | by mosquito bite¶ | 2/8 | 5.5 |
| RevCharge | 10,000 SGS (i.v.) | 9/9 | 3.9 |
*mice did not become positive within ≥10 days post infection.
† three mice had to be sacrificed due to tail infections that occurred after injection.
‡ Infected mice/inoculated (exposed) mice.
§ mosquitoes were pre-selected for parasites.
¶ mosquitoes were not pre-selected for parasites.