Fig. 2.

CqDVP-2 and CqDVP-4 are enriched in adult female SGs and present in saliva

(a) Comparison of CqDVP-2 and CqDVP-4 transcript levels in Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes across developmental stages, tissues, and sex. Relative abundance was expressed as the fold change using the 40 ​S ribosomal protein S7 from C. quinquefasciatus as the housekeeping gene, Heads and thoraxes (H+T) containing SGs were dissected from abdomens (abd). (b) Western blots of CqDVP-2 and (c) CqDVP-4 demonstrate specific antibody recognition of these proteins and confirm the presence of CqDVP-4 in SGH. (d) Coomassie blue stained Nu-PAGE gel of recombinant proteins (2.8 µg) and the contents of five C. quinquefasciatus salivary glands. (e) Peptides identified by mass spectrometry of C. quinquefasciatus saliva corresponding to CqDVP-2 and CqDVP-4 are underlined, confirming the secretion of both CqDVP proteins into mosquito saliva. For full peptide list, see Supplementary Table 1.