ArticlePloS one2013
Urea synthesis and excretion in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are regulated by a unique cross-talk mechanism.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Crosstalk in the cold: host-microbe interactions in insect diapause.Annals of the Entomological Society of America · 2026Review
- Regulatory mechanisms of nitrogen homeostasis in insect growth and development.Insect science · 2026Review
- Pyruvate kinase is post-translationally regulated by sirtuin 2 in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.Insect biochemistry and molecular biology · 2023Article
- Ornithine decarboxylase deficiency critically impairs nitrogen metabolism and survival in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2022Article
- Unraveling mosquito metabolism with mass spectrometry-based metabolomics.Trends in parasitology · 2021Review
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- Article
- Dengue Virus Infection ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Mass spectrometry-based stable-isotope tracing uncovers metabolic alterations in pyruvate kinase-deficient Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.Insect biochemistry and molecular biology · 2020Article
- 20-Hydroxyecdysone Primes Innate Immune Responses That Limit Bacterial and Malarial Parasite Survival in Anopheles gambiae.mSphere · 2020Article
- Metabolic balancing by miR-276 shapes the mosquito reproductive cycle and Plasmodium falciparum development.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Distinctive regulatory properties of pyruvate kinase 1 from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.Insect biochemistry and molecular biology · 2019Article
- Identification and characterization of a mosquito-specific eggshell organizing factor in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.PLoS biology · 2019Article
- Induced Hyperproteinemia and Its Effects on the Remodeling of Fat Bodies in Silkworm,Frontiers in physiology · 2018Article
- Positional stable isotope tracer analysis reveals carbon routes during ammonia metabolism ofFASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2018Article
- Xanthine dehydrogenase-1 silencing inFASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2017Article
- Review
- RNA-Seq Comparison of Larval and Adult Malpighian Tubules of the Yellow Fever MosquitoFrontiers in physiology · 2017Article
- Effective disposal of nitrogen waste in blood-fed Aedes aegypti mosquitoes requires alanine aminotransferase.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2016Article
- Effects of Argentilactone on the Transcriptional Profile, Cell Wall and Oxidative Stress of Paracoccidioides spp.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes do not have a typical functional urea cycle for ammonia disposal such as the one present in most terrestrial vertebrates. However, they can synthesize urea by two different pathways, argininolysis and uricolysis. We investigated how formation of urea by these two pathways is regulated in females of A. aegypti. The expression of arginase (AR) and urate oxidase (UO), either separately or simultaneously (ARUO) was silenced by RNAi. The amounts of several nitrogen compounds were quantified in excreta using mass spectrometry. Injection of mosquitoes with either dsRNA-AR or dsRNA-UO significantly decreased the expressions of AR or UO in the fat body (FB) and Malpighian tubules (MT). Surprisingly, the expression level of AR was increased when UO was silenced and vice versa, suggesting a cross-talk regulation between pathways. In agreement with these data, the amount of urea measured 48 h after blood feeding remained unchanged in those mosquitoes injected with dsRNA-AR or dsRNA-UO. However, allantoin significantly increased in the excreta of dsRNA-AR-injected females. The knockdown of ARUO mainly led to a decrease in urea and allantoin excretion, and an increase in arginine excretion. In addition, dsRNA-AR-injected mosquitoes treated with a specific nitric oxide synthase inhibitor showed an increase of UO expression in FB and MT and a significant increase in the excretion of nitrogen compounds. Interestingly, both a temporary delay in the digestion of a blood meal and a significant reduction in the expression of several genes involved in ammonia metabolism were observed in dsRNA-AR, UO or ARUO-injected females. These results reveal that urea synthesis and excretion in A. aegypti are tightly regulated by a unique cross-talk signaling mechanism. This process allows blood-fed mosquitoes to regulate the synthesis and/or excretion of nitrogen waste products, and avoid toxic effects that could result from a lethal concentration of ammonia in their tissues.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.