Transcription Profiling for Defensins of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) During Development and in Response to Infection With Chikungunya and Zika Viruses.

Aedes aegypti (L.) is a vector of chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever and Zika viruses. These viruses encounter a variety of induced defense responses from the innate immune system of the mosquito. We cloned defensin A from Ae. aegypti using laboratory populations originating from Key West and Orlando, Florida. To characterize inducible immune defensin peptides, we examined the defensin A (DefA) and defensin C (DefC) expression through time course studies using quantitative real-time PCR. We observed that ingestion of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) infected blood triggered early upregulated expression of DefA and DefC at 3 h after blood feeding. At 10-d post infection, there was significant downregulation of DefA and DefC in CHIKV-infected females and significant upregulation of DefA and DefC in ZIKV-infected females compared with control mosquitoes fed uninfected blood. Our studies demonstrate that the relative activity of DefA and DefC changed depending on whether Ae. aegypti was infected with CHIKV or ZIKV, suggesting differences in antiviral defense responses. In addition, we also examined DefA and DefC gene expression during the different developmental stages. Significant qualitative and quantitative differences were found in DefA and DefC transcripts between Key West and Orlando strains. We found that adult males consistently had higher expression than adult females of different ages. Together, these data show that members of the Ae. aegypti defensin gene family play a role in both Zika and chikungunya antiviral response.