Multiple blood feeding in mosquitoes shortens the Plasmodium falciparum incubation period and increases malaria transmission potential
Fig 5
Parasite developmental rates are further enhanced in eggless mosquitoes.
(A) Oocysts are significantly larger in Δzpg (eggless) mutant females at 7 d pIBM after both one or two blood meals (Linear mixed model; #BF: p = 0.0001; genotype: p<0.0001; FDR-corrected post-hoc Student’s t tests shown for all models) compared to controls (Cntrl). (B) Oocyst intensities are lower in Δzpg mutant females compared to controls (Linear mixed model; #BF: p = 0.041; genotype: p<0.0001), whereas oocyst prevalence (P, pie charts; χ2 test: χ2 = 6.5, d.f. = 3, n.s.) is unaffected. (C) Salivary glands sporozoite numbers are increased in both control and Δzpg mutant females at 10 d pIBM after a second blood meal (Linear mixed model; #BF: p<0.0001; genotype: p = 0.0056), with sporozoite prevalence (P, upper pie charts) also increased in the Δzpg mutant background (χ2 test, χ2 = 81, d.f. = 3, p<0.0001), significantly at the first blood meal. Pooling data shows higher sporozoite prevalence in Δzpg mutant population (P, lower pie charts) (Fisher’s exact test). Horizontal bars indicate median values. n = numbers of mosquitoes analyzed from 3 (A and B) or 4 (C) different experiments. n.s. = not statistically significant. See S1–S4 Tables for details of statistical models.