Figure 1.

HYPERLINK "sps:id::fig1||locator::gr1||MediaObject::0"Plasmodium falciparum infection stage differentially affects mosquito locomotor activity. Schematic design of the locomotor assay (a) used to assess the activity of female Anopheles gambiae, 7 days post-infection (dpi) and 14 dpi with P. falciparum compared to age-matched uninfected females (days control, dc), in the presence (with human odour) or absence of human odour (w/o human odour). Individual locomotor profiles (n = 384), assessed for variation using a redundancy analysis, demonstrated a differential effect of age post-blood meal (the mixed model was build based on the effect of age as a main fixed variable combined with the random effect of the other variables; β-lmer ± SE = age + experimental replication|1); (b) infection (the model demonstrated the effect of the main fixed variable of infection, including the rest of the variables as random variables ; β-lmer ± SE = infection + experimental replication|1); and (c) on locomotor activity in the presence and absence of human odour. (d) Diel locomotor activity profiles of 7 and 14 dpi females, along with age-matched controls, demonstrated effects of both age post-blood meal, and infection in the presence and absence of human odour during informative activity periods (photophase, Zeitgeber Time (ZT) 0–11; dusk, ZT 11–12; scotophase, ZT 12–23; and dawn, ZT 23–34) over a 24 h period (the mixed model estimated the effect of all four main fixed variables including age, infection, time, human odour, as well as the random effect of the experimental replication combined with the interactions among all these variables; β-lmer ± SE = age + infection + time + human odour + experimental replication|1). Significant effects were determined using GLMM models (lmer). Bars represented by β-estimation generated by the mixed model ± SE (β-lmer ± SE); asterisks denote significant differences (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ns, non-significant). Letters indicate the pairwise comparisons between infected and uninfected groups; a = p < 0.001, b = p < 0.01, c = p < 0.05, d = non-significant).