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Liang J, Kang L, Michalak P, Sharakhov IV. Hybridization between Aedes aegypti and Aedes mascarensis mosquitoes leads to disruption of male sex determination. Commun Biol 2024; 7:886. [PMID: 39039226 PMCID: PMC11263339 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06560-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 07/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the sex determination pathway and its disruptions in mosquitoes is critical for the effective control of disease vectors through genetic manipulations based on sex separation. When male hybrids of Aedes aegypti females and Ae. mascarensis males are backcrossed to Ae. aegypti females, a portion of the backcross progeny manifests as males with abnormal sexual differentiation. We discovered a significant correlation between pupal abnormalities and the feminization of subsequent adults exemplified by the relative abundance of ovarian and testicular tissues. All intersex individuals were genetic males as they expressed a male determining factor, Nix. Further, our analysis of the sex-specific splicing of doublesex and fruitless transcripts demonstrated the presence of both male and female splice variants indicating that sex determination is disrupted. A comparative transcriptomic analysis revealed similar expression levels of most female-associated genes in reproductive organs and carcasses between intersexual males and normal females. Moreover, intersexes had largely normal gene expression in testes but significant gene downregulation in male accessory glands when compared with normal males. We conclude that evolving hybrid incompatibilities between Ae. aegypti and Ae. mascarensis involve disruption of sex determination and are accompanied by changes in gene expression associated with sexual differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiangtao Liang
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
- Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
- Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Lin Kang
- Department of Biomedical Research, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Monroe, LA, USA
- College of Pharmacy, University of Louisiana Monroe, Monroe, LA, USA
- Center for One Health Research, VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Pawel Michalak
- Department of Biomedical Research, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Monroe, LA, USA
- Center for One Health Research, VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, VA, USA
- Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Igor V Sharakhov
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
- Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
- Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia.
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Liang J, Bondarenko SM, Sharakhov IV, Sharakhova MV. Obtaining Polytene, Meiotic, and Mitotic Chromosomes from Mosquitoes for Cytogenetic Analysis. Cold Spring Harb Protoc 2022; 2022:591-598. [PMID: 35960616 DOI: 10.1101/pdb.prot107872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Chromosome visualization is a key step for developing cytogenetic maps and idiograms, analyzing inversion polymorphisms, and identifying mosquito species. Three types of chromosomes-polytene, mitotic, and meiotic-are used in cytogenetic studies of mosquitoes. Here, we describe a detailed method for obtaining high-quality polytene chromosome preparations from the salivary glands of larvae and the ovaries of females for Anopheles mosquitoes. We also describe how to obtain mitotic chromosomes from imaginal discs of fourth-instar larvae and meiotic chromosomes from the testes of male pupae for all mosquitoes. These chromosomes can be used for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), a fundamental technique in cytogenetic research that is used for physical genome mapping, detecting chromosomal rearrangements, and studying chromosome organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiangtao Liang
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060, USA
| | - Simon M Bondarenko
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060, USA.,Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, Tomsk State University, Tomsk 634050, Russia
| | - Igor V Sharakhov
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060, USA.,Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, Tomsk State University, Tomsk 634050, Russia
| | - Maria V Sharakhova
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060, USA .,Laboratory of Evolutionary Genomics of Insects, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
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Garrood WT, Cuber P, Willis K, Bernardini F, Page NM, Haghighat-Khah RE. Driving down malaria transmission with engineered gene drives. Front Genet 2022; 13:891218. [PMID: 36338968 PMCID: PMC9627344 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.891218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The last century has witnessed the introduction, establishment and expansion of mosquito-borne diseases into diverse new geographic ranges. Malaria is transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes. Despite making great strides over the past few decades in reducing the burden of malaria, transmission is now on the rise again, in part owing to the emergence of mosquito resistance to insecticides, antimalarial drug resistance and, more recently, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the reduced implementation efficiency of various control programs. The utility of genetically engineered gene drive mosquitoes as tools to decrease the burden of malaria by controlling the disease-transmitting mosquitoes is being evaluated. To date, there has been remarkable progress in the development of CRISPR/Cas9-based homing endonuclease designs in malaria mosquitoes due to successful proof-of-principle and multigenerational experiments. In this review, we examine the lessons learnt from the development of current CRISPR/Cas9-based homing endonuclease gene drives, providing a framework for the development of gene drive systems for the targeted control of wild malaria-transmitting mosquito populations that overcome challenges such as with evolving drive-resistance. We also discuss the additional substantial works required to progress the development of gene drive systems from scientific discovery to further study and subsequent field application in endemic settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- William T. Garrood
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Piotr Cuber
- Department of Molecular Biology, Core Research Laboratories, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
| | - Katie Willis
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Federica Bernardini
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Nicole M. Page
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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Miller D, Chen J, Liang J, Betrán E, Long M, Sharakhov IV. Retrogene Duplication and Expression Patterns Shaped by the Evolution of Sex Chromosomes in Malaria Mosquitoes. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13060968. [PMID: 35741730 PMCID: PMC9222922 DOI: 10.3390/genes13060968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Genes that originate during evolution are an important source of novel biological functions. Retrogenes are functional copies of genes produced by retroduplication and as such are located in different genomic positions. To investigate retroposition patterns and retrogene expression, we computationally identified interchromosomal retroduplication events in nine portions of the phylogenetic history of malaria mosquitoes, making use of species that do or do not have classical sex chromosomes to test the roles of sex-linkage. We found 40 interchromosomal events and a significant excess of retroduplications from the X chromosome to autosomes among a set of young retrogenes. These young retroposition events occurred within the last 100 million years in lineages where all species possessed differentiated sex chromosomes. An analysis of available microarray and RNA-seq expression data for Anopheles gambiae showed that many of the young retrogenes evolved male-biased expression in the reproductive organs. Young autosomal retrogenes with increased meiotic or postmeiotic expression in the testes tend to be male biased. In contrast, older retrogenes, i.e., in lineages with undifferentiated sex chromosomes, do not show this particular chromosomal bias and are enriched for female-biased expression in reproductive organs. Our reverse-transcription PCR data indicates that most of the youngest retrogenes, which originated within the last 47.6 million years in the subgenus Cellia, evolved non-uniform expression patterns across body parts in the males and females of An. coluzzii. Finally, gene annotation revealed that mitochondrial function is a prominent feature of the young autosomal retrogenes. We conclude that mRNA-mediated gene duplication has produced a set of genes that contribute to mosquito reproductive functions and that different biases are revealed after the sex chromosomes evolve. Overall, these results suggest potential roles for the evolution of meiotic sex chromosome inactivation in males and of sexually antagonistic conflict related to mitochondrial energy function as the main selective pressures for X-to-autosome gene reduplication and testis-biased expression in these mosquito lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Duncan Miller
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA; (D.M.); (J.L.)
| | - Jianhai Chen
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA;
| | - Jiangtao Liang
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA; (D.M.); (J.L.)
| | - Esther Betrán
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA;
| | - Manyuan Long
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA;
- Correspondence: (M.L.); (I.V.S.)
| | - Igor V. Sharakhov
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA; (D.M.); (J.L.)
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, Tomsk State University, 634050 Tomsk, Russia
- Correspondence: (M.L.); (I.V.S.)
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