Influence of <i>SRPN7</i> and <i>CLIPC2</i> silencing on mosquito resistance to bacterial challenge and midgut microbiota proliferation.

<p>Adult female mosquitoes were subjected to RNAi-mediated depletion of <i>SRPN7</i> or <i>CLIPC2</i> transcripts and then challenged with (A) either Gram-positive <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> or (B) Gram-negative <i>Escherichia coli</i> bacteria. Depletion of <i>SRPN7</i> (p = 0.56) or <i>CLIPC2</i> (p = 0.028) had no effect on the survival of mosquitoes challenged with (A) <i>S. aureus</i>, whereas there was a significant increase (p<0.01) in the survival of <i>CLIPC2</i>-depleted mosquitoes challenged with (B) <i>E. coli</i> but not <i>SRPN7</i>-depleted mosquitoes (p = 0.18). For both (A) and (B), data were pooled from three independent biological replicates (for A, n = 145; for B, n = 111), and a control group injected with <i>dsGFP</i> RNA was included in each replicate. Statistical significance was determined using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis with a log-rank test using Bonferonni's correction for multiple comparisons (significance  = p<0.025. (C) RNAi-mediated gene silencing of <i>SRPN7</i> or <i>CLIP2</i> resulted in a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the colony forming units (CFU) of cultivable midgut bacteria when compared to <i>dsGFP</i>-injected control mosquito midguts. Data were pooled from three independent biological replicates (n = 27 for each dsRNA group), and statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett's multiple comparison test. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean.</p>