Detection of malaria sporozoites expelled during mosquito sugar feeding

Brugman, V.A., Kristan, M., Gibbins, M.P. , Angrisano, F., Sala, K.A., Dessens, J.T., Blagborough, A.M. and Walker, T. (2018) Detection of malaria sporozoites expelled during mosquito sugar feeding. Scientific Reports, 8, 7545. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26010-6) (PMID:29765136) (PMCID:PMC5954146)

Abstract

Malaria is a severe disease of global importance transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. The ability to rapidly detect the presence of infectious mosquitoes able to transmit malaria is of vital importance for surveillance, control and elimination efforts. Current methods principally rely on large-scale mosquito collections followed by labour-intensive salivary gland dissections or enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) methods to detect sporozoites. Using forced salivation, we demonstrate here that Anopheles mosquitoes infected with Plasmodium expel sporozoites during sugar feeding. Expelled sporozoites can be detected on two sugar-soaked substrates, cotton wool and Whatman FTA cards, and sporozoite DNA is detectable using real-time PCR. These results demonstrate a simple and rapid methodology for detecting the presence of infectious mosquitoes with sporozoites and highlight potential laboratory applications for investigating mosquito-malaria interactions. Our results indicate that FTA cards could be used as a simple, effective and economical tool in enhancing field surveillance activities for malaria.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding was provided by a Royal Society challenge grant (CHG\R1\170036) and Wellcome Trust /Royal Society grant awarded to TW (101285/Z/13/Z), http://www.wellcome.ac.uk; https://royalsociety.org. V.A.B. was additionally supported via the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant BB/J008869/1 and M.P.G. received funding from NC3Rs, grant NC/L000601/1. J.T.D. received funding from BBSRC grant BB/M001598/1. We gratefully acknowledge Mark Tunnicliff for mosquito production. A.M.B. thanks the MRC (New Investigator Research Grant; award number MR/N00227X/1) for funding.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gibbins, Dr Matt
• Authors: Brugman, V.A., Kristan, M., Gibbins, M.P., Angrisano, F., Sala, K.A., Dessens, J.T., Blagborough, A.M., and Walker, T.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 8: 7545
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License