Functional Verification of Differentially Expressed Genes Following DENV2 Infection in Aedes aegypti

• Published in: Viruses 2025-01, Vol.17 (1), p.67
• Main Authors: Chen, Xiaoli, Zhou, Xinyu, Xie, Xiaoxue, Li, Bo, Zhao, Teng, Yu, Haotian, Xing, Dan, Wu, Jiahong, Li, Chunxiao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aag2 cells; Aedes - genetics; Aedes - virology; Aedes aegypti; Animals; Cell culture; Cell Line; Culicidae; Defensins; Dengue - transmission; Dengue - virology; Dengue fever; Dengue Virus - genetics; Dengue Virus - physiology; DENV2; Disease transmission; Exocrine glands; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene regulation; Infections; Infectious diseases; Insect Proteins - genetics; Insect Proteins - metabolism; MicroRNAs; Midgut; Mosquito Vectors - genetics; Mosquito Vectors - virology; Mosquitoes; overexpression; Pathogens; Plasmids; Proteins; Reagents; Replication; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Salivary gland; Salivary Glands - metabolism; Salivary Glands - virology; siRNA; Transcriptome; Transcriptomics; Transfection; Vectors (Biology); Viral infections; Viral Load; Virus Replication; Viruses
• ISSN: 1999-4915; 1999-4915
• DOI: 10.3390/v17010067

The dengue virus (DENV) is primarily transmitted by . Investigating genes associated with mosquito susceptibility to DENV2 offers a theoretical foundation for targeted interventions to regulate or block viral replication and transmission within mosquitoes. Based on the transcriptomic analyses of the midgut and salivary glands from infected with DENV2, alongside analyses of Aag2 cell infections, 24 genes potentially related to the regulation of infection with DENV2 were selected. By establishing transient transfection and overexpression models of Aag2 cells, and mosquito target gene interference models, the difference in viral load before and after treatment was compared, and the effects of DEGs on viral replication were evaluated. After overexpressing 24 DEGs in Aag2 cells, 19 DEGs showed a significant difference in DENV2 RNA copies in the cell supernatant ( < 0.05). In adult mosquitoes, knocking down defensin-A, defensin-A-like, and SMCT1 respectively reduced the DENV2 RNA copies, while knocking down UGT2B1 and ND4 respectively increased the DENV2 RNA copies. In this study, to assess the role of genes related to DENV2 replication, and transient transfection and overexpression models in Aag2 cells and mosquito gene knockdown models were established, and five genes, defensin-A, defensin-A-like, SMCT1, UGT2B1, and ND4, were found to have an impact on the replication of DENV2, providing a reference basis for studying the complex mechanism of mosquito-virus interactions.