Signaling between mammalian adiponectin and a mosquito adiponectin receptor reduces transmission.

When a female mosquito takes a blood meal from a mammalian host, components of the blood meal can affect mosquito fitness and indirectly influence pathogen infectivity. We identified a pathway involving an adiponectin receptor, which, triggered by adiponectin from an incoming blood meal, decreases infection in the mosquito. Activation of this pathway negatively regulates lipophorin expression, an important lipid transporter that both enhances egg development and infection. This is an unrecognized cross-phyla interaction between a mosquito and its vertebrate host. These processes are critical to understanding the complex life cycle of mosquitoes and following a blood meal and may be applicable to other hematophagous arthropods and vector-borne infectious agents.