IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-44962-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revisiting the Plasmodium sporozoite inoculum and elucidating the efficiency with which malaria parasites progress through the mosquito

Author

Listed:
  • Sachie Kanatani

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
    Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Deborah Stiffler

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
    Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Teun Bousema

    (Radboud University Medical Center)

  • Gayane Yenokyan

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

  • Photini Sinnis

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
    Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

Abstract

Malaria is initiated when infected anopheline mosquitoes inoculate sporozoites as they probe for blood. It is thought that all infected mosquitoes are equivalent in terms of their infectious potential, with parasite burden having no role in transmission success. In this study, using mosquitoes harboring the entire range of salivary gland sporozoite loads observed in the field, we demonstrate a strong and highly significant correlation between mosquito parasite burden and inoculum size. We then link the inoculum data to oocyst counts, the most commonly-used metric to assess mosquito infection in the field, and determine the efficiency with which oocyst sporozoites enter mosquito salivary glands. Taken together our data support the conclusion that mosquitoes with higher parasite burdens are more likely to initiate infection and contribute to onward transmission. Overall these data may account for some of the unexplained heterogeneity in transmission and enable more precise benchmarks for transmission-blocking interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sachie Kanatani & Deborah Stiffler & Teun Bousema & Gayane Yenokyan & Photini Sinnis, 2024. "Revisiting the Plasmodium sporozoite inoculum and elucidating the efficiency with which malaria parasites progress through the mosquito," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-44962-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44962-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-44962-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-44962-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sean L Wu & Héctor M Sánchez C. & John M Henry & Daniel T Citron & Qian Zhang & Kelly Compton & Biyonka Liang & Amit Verma & Derek A T Cummings & Arnaud Le Menach & Thomas W Scott & Anne L Wilson & St, 2020. "Vector bionomics and vectorial capacity as emergent properties of mosquito behaviors and ecology," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(4), pages 1-32, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-44962-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.