A Peptide Signaling System that Rapidly Enforces Paternity in the Aedes aegypti Mosquito

作者:Duvall Laura B; Basrur Nipun S; Molina Henrik; McMeniman Conor J; Vosshall Leslie B*
来源:Current Biology, 2017, 27(23): 3734-+.
DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2017.10.074

摘要

Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes typically mate only once with one male in their lifetime, a behavior known as "monandry'' [1]. This single mating event provisions the female with sufficient sperm to fertilize the > 500 eggs she will produce during her similar to 4- to 6-week lifespan in the laboratory [2]. Successful mating induces lifetime refractoriness to subsequent insemination by other males, enforcing the paternity of the first male [3-5]. Ae. aegypti mate in flight near human hosts [6], and females become refractory to remating within seconds [1, 3, 4], suggesting the existence of a rapid mechanism to prevent female remating. In this study, we implicate HP-I, an Aedesand male-specific peptide transferred to females [7], and its cognate receptor in the female, NPYLR1 [8], in rapid enforcement of paternity. HP-I mutant males were ineffective in enforcing paternity when a second male was given access to the female within 1 hr. NPYLR1mutant females produced mixed paternity offspring at high frequency, indicating acceptance of multiple mates. Synthetic HP-I injected into wild-type, but not NPYLR1 mutant, virgins reduced successful matings. Asian tiger mosquito (Ae. albopictus) HP-I peptides potently activated Ae. aegypti NPYLR1. Invasive Ae. albopictus males are known to copulate with and effectively sterilize Ae. aegypti females by causing them to reject future mates [9]. Cross-species transfer of sperm and active seminal fluid proteins including HP-I may contribute to this phenomenon. This signaling system promotes rapid paternity enforcement within Ae. aegypti but may promote local extinction in areas where they compete with Ae. albopictus.

  • 出版日期2017-12-4