Person:
Peng, Duo

Profile Picture

Email Address

AA Acceptance Date

Birth Date

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Job Title

Last Name

Peng

First Name

Duo

Name

Peng, Duo

Filters

2019 - 201912020 - 20221

Settings

Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.27d0d222-ccc1-46ea-9f7d-8b45708de2ea

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Publication
    A male steroid controls female sexual behaviour in the malaria mosquito
    (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022-07-06) Peng, Duo; Kakani, Evdoxia; Mameli, Enzo; Vidoudez, Charles; Mitchell, Sara; Merrihew, Gennifer E.; MacCoss, Michael J.; Adams, Kelsey; Rinvee, Tasneem A.; Shaw, W. Robert; Catteruccia, Flaminia
    Insects, unlike vertebrates, are widely believed to lack male-biased sex steroid hormones1. In the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae, the ecdysteroid 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) appears to have evolved to both control egg development when synthesized by females2 and to induce mating refractoriness when sexually transferred by males3. Because egg development and mating are essential reproductive traits, understanding how Anopheles females integrate these hormonal signals can spur the design of new malaria control programs. Here we reveal that these reproductive functions are regulated by distinct sex steroids through a sophisticated network of ecdysteroid-activating/inactivating enzymes. We identify a male-specific oxidized ecdysteroid, 3-dehydro-20E (3D20E), which safeguards paternity by turning off female sexual receptivity following its sexual transfer and activation by dephosphorylation. Notably, 3D20E transfer also induces expression of a reproductive gene that preserves egg development during Plasmodium infection, ensuring fitness of infected females. Female-derived 20E does not trigger sexual refractoriness but instead licenses oviposition in mated individuals once a 20E-inhibiting kinase is repressed. Identifying this male-specific insect steroid hormone and its roles in regulating female sexual receptivity, fertility and interactions with Plasmodium parasites suggests the possibility for reducing the reproductive success of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Publication
    Steroid Hormone Function Controls Non-competitive Plasmodium Development in Anopheles
    (Elsevier BV, 2019-04) Werling, Kristine; Shaw, William; Itoe, Maurice; Westervelt, Kathleen; Marcenac, Perrine; Paton, Douglas; Peng, Duo; Singh, Naresh; Smidler, Andrea L.; South, Adam; Deik, Amy; Mancio-Silva, Liliana; Demas, Allison R.; March, Sandra; Calvo, Eric; Bhatia, Sangeeta; Clish, Clary B.; Catteruccia, Flaminia
    Transmission of malaria parasites occurs when a female Anopheles mosquito feeds on an infected host to acquire nutrients for egg development. How parasites are affected by oogenetic processes, principally orchestrated by the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), remains largely unknown. Here we show that Plasmodium falciparum development is intimately but not competitively linked to processes shaping Anopheles gambiae reproduction. We unveil a 20E-mediated positive correlation between egg and oocyst numbers, such that impairing oogenesis by multiple 20E manipulations decreases parasite intensities. These manipulations, however, accelerate Plasmodium growth rates, allowing sporozoites to become infectious sooner. Parasites exploit mosquito lipids for faster growth, but they do so without further impacting egg development. These results suggest that P. falciparum has adopted a non-competitive evolutionary strategy of resource exploitation to optimize transmission while minimizing fitness costs to its mosquito vector. Our findings have profound implications for currently proposed control strategies aimed at suppressing mosquito populations.