Localization of the mosquito insulin receptor homolog (MIR) in reproducing yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti)

The female mosquito takes a blood meal to produce a batch of eggs. Initiation of egg maturation and growth of oocytes is governed by several endocrine factors. Peptide factors from the brain are involved in this process and some are also responsible for the induction of ecdysone secretion. The latter appears to be required to maintain a high rate of vitellogenin synthesis. By analogy with the known functions of insulin-like molecules (e.g. bombyxins) which in insects activate the secretion of ecdysteroids, we have postulated that there is an insulin receptor homolog responsible for activation of endysone secretion in the ovary. We have recently cloned the mosquito homolog (MIR) and are now investigating its spatial and temporal distribution. Here, we have localized the insulin receptor (MIR) both at the mRNA and protein level using in situ-hybridization and immunocytochemistry. The receptor is expressed before a blood meal mainly in the nurse cells of ovaries. After a meal, follicle and nurse cells contain mRNA coding for the receptor. The intensity of expression rises in the follicle cells until they degenerate during choriogenesis. Immunocytochemical localization confirms the ill situ data: the protein is present before and after a meal. Both methods confirm our previous findings by Northern blot analysis, in which the ovary was found to be the main source of the receptor mRNA. The dynamics of receptor mRNA are related to the dynamics of ecdysone secretion and its action on physiological processes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.