A Critical Role for CLSP2 in the Modulation of Antifungal Immune Response in Mosquitoes

Entomopathogenic fungi represent a promising class of bio-insecticides for mosquito control. thus,detailed knowledge of the molecular mechanisms governing anti-fungal immune response in mosquitoes is essential. in this study,we show that clsp2 is a modulator of immune responses during anti-fungal infection in the mosquito aedes aegypti. with a fungal infection,the expression of the clsp2 gene is elevated. clsp2 is cleaved upon challenge with beauveria bassiana conidia,and the liberated clsp2 ctl-type domain binds to fungal cell components and b. bassiana conidia. furthermore,clps2 rna interference silencing significantly increases the resistance to the fungal challenge. rna-sequencing transcriptome analysis showed that the majority of immune genes were highly upregulated in the clsp2-depleted mosquitoes infected with the fungus. the up-regulated immune gene cohorts belong to melanization and toll pathways,but not to the imd or jak-stat. a thioester-containing protein (tep22),a member of α2-macroglobulin family,has been implicated in the clsp2-modulated mosquito antifungal defense. our study has contributed to a greater understanding of immune-modulating mechanisms in mosquitoes. © 2015 wang et al.