TNF signaling mediates cellular immune function and promotes malaria parasite killing in the mosquito Anopheles gambiae.

Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) is a proinflammatory cytokine and a master regulator of immune cell function in vertebrates. While previous studies have implicated TNF signaling in invertebrate immunity, the roles of TNF in mosquito innate immunity and vector competence have yet to be explored. Herein, we confirm the identification of a conserved TNF-α pathway in Anopheles gambiae consisting of the TNF-α ligand, Eiger, and its cognate receptors Wengen and Grindelwald. Through gene expression analysis, RNAi, and in vivo injection of recombinant TNF-α, we provide direct evidence for the requirement of TNF signaling in regulating mosquito immune cell function by promoting granulocyte midgut attachment, increased granulocyte abundance, and oenocytoid rupture. Moreover, our data demonstrate that TNF signaling is an integral component of anti-Plasmodium immunity that limits malaria parasite survival. Together, our data support the existence of a highly conserved TNF signaling pathway in mosquitoes that mediates cellular immunity and influences Plasmodium infection outcomes, offering potential new approaches to interfere with malaria transmission by targeting the mosquito host.

Mosquito immune cells enhance dengue and Zika virus dissemination in Aedes aegypti.

Mosquito-borne viruses cause more than 400 million annual infections and place over half of the world's population at risk. Despite this importance, the mechanisms by which arboviruses infect the mosquito host and disseminate to tissues required for transmission are not well understood. Here, we provide evidence that mosquito immune cells, known as hemocytes, play an integral role in the dissemination of dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) in the mosquito Aedes aegypti. We establish that phagocytic hemocytes are a focal point for virus infection and demonstrate that these immune cell populations facilitate virus dissemination to the ovaries and salivary glands. Additional transfer experiments confirm that virus-infected hemocytes confer a virus infection to non-infected mosquitoes more efficiently than free virus in acellular hemolymph, revealing that hemocytes are an important tropism to enhance virus dissemination in the mosquito host. These data support a "trojan horse" model of virus dissemination where infected hemocytes transport virus through the hemolymph to deliver virus to mosquito tissues required for transmission and parallels vertebrate systems where immune cell populations promote virus dissemination to secondary sites of infection. In summary, this study significantly advances our understanding of virus infection dynamics in mosquitoes and highlights conserved roles of immune cells in virus dissemination across vertebrate and invertebrate systems.