Functional characterization of serine protease inhibitors present in mosquito Aedes aegypti infected and not infected with dengue virus

• Grant number: 12/15191-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): August 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Aparecida Sadae Tanaka
• Grantee: Tatiane Sanches Soares
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 12/03657-8 - Inhibitor and proteases of ectoparasites: relationship of structure-function and identification of the role of these molecules in the interaction of diseases vector e their etiological agents, AP.TEM

Abstract

Dengue is a serious disease transmitted by mosquito Aedes aegypti during blood meal feeding. It is estimated that dengue virus are transmitted to millions of individuals each year in tropical and subtropical areas. As there is no vaccine to dengue control, the interruption of dengue transmission has been limited to chemical control of the vector Ae. aegypti using insecticides, but the development of resistance has been a challenge. During the feeding with blood meal, the females of the Ae. aegypti mosquito can acquire together with the blood meal infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria and fungi, to protect against these microorganisms the insect needs to produce defense molecules. However, there is scant information about which molecules are produced or modulated by Ae. aegypti during pathogen infections. According to recent data, using transcriptomes and microarray analysis of infected Ae. aegypti, it was possible to identify that several serine proteases inhibitors showed modulation of gene expression during infection by dengue virus, yellow fever virus, West Nile virus, and bacteria Escherichia coli and Micrococcus luteus. From these data, we selected five serine proteases inhibitors modulated by infection in Ae. aegypti: one inhibitor of the Kazal family (AAEL006007), already characterized biochemically by our group; one of the Kunitz family (AAEL010680), one of the pacifastin family (AAEL000551), which has a single transcript in the Ae. aegypti; and two inhibitors of the TIL family (AAEL000302 and AAEL000379). Thus, in this project the aims are to identify the role of these inhibitors in the Ae. aegypti mosquito and their relationship in the interaction of mosquitoes with pathogens, generating a better understanding of the role of protease inhibitors during infection. In the future, these inhibitors may be used as a target for transgenic mosquito which could be used in the control of infection. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SOARES, TATIANE SANCHES; RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ, BORIS LUIS; SOARES TORQUATO, RICARDO JOSE; ALVES LEMOS, FRANCISCO JOSE; COSTA-DA-SILVA, ANDRE L.; CAPURRO GUIMARAES, MARGARETH DE LARA; TANAKA, APARECIDA SADAE. Functional characterization of a serine protease inhibitor modulated in the infection of the Aedes aegypti with dengue virus. Biochimie, v. 144, p. 160-168, JAN 2018. (12/03657-8, 12/15191-3)