Additional blood meals increase mosquito infectivity by accelerating the transcriptional development of Plasmodium sporozoites
- 1Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
Abstract
Sporozoites, the infectious stage of Plasmodium malaria parasites, must invade two different tissues in two very different hosts to ensure transmission: the mosquito salivary glands and the human liver. Whether infectivity to hepatocytes is affected by physiological components, such as the availability of nutrients within the Anopheles female, is not well understood. Here we show that Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite infectivity to hepatocytes is increased if mosquitoes take an additional blood meal while oocysts are developing. Infection rates of HC04.J7 hepatocytes at 24 h were 1.8-fold higher for P. falciparum salivary gland sporozoites isolated from Anopheles gambiae females fed twice (2BF) compared to those which only received the infectious blood meal (1BF). This increase in infectivity was observed at an early infection timepoint (day 11) and was accompanied by a marked shift in the transcriptional profiles of 2BF salivary gland sporozoites, identifying genes likely involved in infection and development in the mammalian host. Overall, our data reveal new factors potentially involved in sporozoite infectivity, and have broad implications for understanding transmission of malaria in endemic areas where multiple blood meals commonly shape available resources for adult female mosquitoes.
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BibTeX
@misc{shaw2026additional,
title = {{Additional blood meals increase mosquito infectivity by accelerating the transcriptional development of Plasmodium sporozoites}},
author = {W. R. Shaw and P. Schwabl and M. Itoe and S. Anandjee and J. Kauffman and L. H. Verzier and Y. Yan and D. E. Neafsey and F. Catteruccia},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.26.754681},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754681v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Additional blood meals increase mosquito infectivity by accelerating the transcriptional development of Plasmodium sporozoites
AU - W. R. Shaw
AU - P. Schwabl
AU - M. Itoe
AU - S. Anandjee
AU - J. Kauffman
AU - L. H. Verzier
AU - Y. Yan
AU - D. E. Neafsey
AU - F. Catteruccia
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/26
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.26.754681
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754681v1
AB - Sporozoites, the infectious stage of Plasmodium malaria parasites, must invade two different tissues in two very different hosts to ensure transmission: the mosquito salivary glands and the human liver. Whether infectivity to hepatocytes is affected by physiological components, such as the availability of nutrients within the Anopheles female, is not well understood. Here we show that Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite infectivity to hepatocytes is increased if mosquitoes take an additional blood meal while oocysts are developing. Infection rates of HC04.J7 hepatocytes at 24 h were 1.8-fold higher for P. falciparum salivary gland sporozoites isolated from Anopheles gambiae females fed twice (2BF) compared to those which only received the infectious blood meal (1BF). This increase in infectivity was observed at an early infection timepoint (day 11) and was accompanied by a marked shift in the transcriptional profiles of 2BF salivary gland sporozoites, identifying genes likely involved in infection and development in the mammalian host. Overall, our data reveal new factors potentially involved in sporozoite infectivity, and have broad implications for understanding transmission of malaria in endemic areas where multiple blood meals commonly shape available resources for adult female mosquitoes.
ER -