Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae)
Host selection by mosquitoes is a keystone in understanding viral circulation and predicting future infection outbreaks. Culex mosquitoes frequently feed on birds during spring and early summer, shifting into mammals towards late summer and autumn. This host switch may be due to changes in mosquito...
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-05-01
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/89485 |
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| author | Kevin Alen Rucci Gabriel Barco Andrea Onorato Mauricio Beranek Mariana Pueta Adrián Díaz |
| author_facet | Kevin Alen Rucci Gabriel Barco Andrea Onorato Mauricio Beranek Mariana Pueta Adrián Díaz |
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| description | Host selection by mosquitoes is a keystone in understanding viral circulation and predicting future infection outbreaks. Culex mosquitoes frequently feed on birds during spring and early summer, shifting into mammals towards late summer and autumn. This host switch may be due to changes in mosquito fitness. The aim of this study was to assess if the interaction effect of blood meal source and seasonality may influence reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes. For this purpose, Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes were reared in simulated summer and autumn conditions and fed on two different hosts, chickens and mice, in a factorial design. Fecundity, fertility, and hatchability during two consecutive gonotrophic cycles were estimated. We found greater fecundity and fertility for mosquitoes fed upon birds than mammals. Fecundity and fertility did not vary between seasons for chicken-fed mosquitoes, whereas in autumn they decreased for mouse-fed mosquitoes. These traits decreased in the second gonotrophic cycle for mouse-fed mosquitoes, whereas they did not vary between cycles for chicken-fed mosquitoes. There was no statistically significant effect of blood meal source, seasonality or their interaction on hatchability, hence this variable was similar among treatments. Overall, these results indicate a statistically significant interaction effect of blood meal source and seasonality on fecundity and fertility. However, the pattern was opposite in relation to our hypothesis, suggesting that further studies are needed to confirm and expand our knowledge about mosquito biology and its relationship with seasonal host use shifting. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-923cb43d489c476ca0c81fc5c65efc3c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-923cb43d489c476ca0c81fc5c65efc3c2025-08-20T02:57:43ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-05-011210.7554/eLife.89485Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae)Kevin Alen Rucci0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0940-2423Gabriel Barco1Andrea Onorato2https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6967-398XMauricio Beranek3Mariana Pueta4Adrián Díaz5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5953-2907Laboratorio de Arbovirus, Instituto de Virología “Dr. J. M. Vanella” (InViV), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, ArgentinaLaboratorio de Arbovirus, Instituto de Virología “Dr. J. M. Vanella” (InViV), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, ArgentinaLaboratorio de Arbovirus, Instituto de Virología “Dr. J. M. Vanella” (InViV), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, ArgentinaLaboratorio de Arbovirus, Instituto de Virología “Dr. J. M. Vanella” (InViV), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba, ArgentinaConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (INIBIOMA), CONICET - Universidad Nacional de Comahue (UNCo), San Carlos de Bariloche, ArgentinaLaboratorio de Arbovirus, Instituto de Virología “Dr. J. M. Vanella” (InViV), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, ArgentinaHost selection by mosquitoes is a keystone in understanding viral circulation and predicting future infection outbreaks. Culex mosquitoes frequently feed on birds during spring and early summer, shifting into mammals towards late summer and autumn. This host switch may be due to changes in mosquito fitness. The aim of this study was to assess if the interaction effect of blood meal source and seasonality may influence reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes. For this purpose, Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes were reared in simulated summer and autumn conditions and fed on two different hosts, chickens and mice, in a factorial design. Fecundity, fertility, and hatchability during two consecutive gonotrophic cycles were estimated. We found greater fecundity and fertility for mosquitoes fed upon birds than mammals. Fecundity and fertility did not vary between seasons for chicken-fed mosquitoes, whereas in autumn they decreased for mouse-fed mosquitoes. These traits decreased in the second gonotrophic cycle for mouse-fed mosquitoes, whereas they did not vary between cycles for chicken-fed mosquitoes. There was no statistically significant effect of blood meal source, seasonality or their interaction on hatchability, hence this variable was similar among treatments. Overall, these results indicate a statistically significant interaction effect of blood meal source and seasonality on fecundity and fertility. However, the pattern was opposite in relation to our hypothesis, suggesting that further studies are needed to confirm and expand our knowledge about mosquito biology and its relationship with seasonal host use shifting.https://elifesciences.org/articles/89485mosquito vectorfecundityfertilityhatchability |
| spellingShingle | Kevin Alen Rucci Gabriel Barco Andrea Onorato Mauricio Beranek Mariana Pueta Adrián Díaz Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) eLife mosquito vector fecundity fertility hatchability |
| title | Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) |
| title_full | Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) |
| title_fullStr | Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) |
| title_short | Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) |
| title_sort | effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of culex quinquefasciatus diptera culicidae |
| topic | mosquito vector fecundity fertility hatchability |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/89485 |
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