Trypsin, the Major Proteolytic Enzyme for Blood Digestion in the Mosquito Midgut

Abstract

When a female mosquito takes a blood meal, proteolytic activity surges in the midgut. Trypsin-like serine proteases are the major endoproteolytic enzyme induced by feeding in mosquitoes. The mosquito midgut lacks trypsin activity before the blood meal, but in most anautogenous mosquitoes, trypsin activity increases continuously up to 30 h after feeding and subsequently returns to baseline levels by 60 h. Trypsin activity in mosquitoes is restricted entirely to the posterior midgut lumen, where blood is stored and digested. Trypsin enzyme activity can be quantitatively measured using the artificialNα-benzoyl-DL-arginine 4-nitroanilide hydrochloride substrate, a method described in our associated protocol.