Mosquito immunity

Abstract

Throughout their lifetime, mosquitoes are exposed to pathogens during feeding, through breaks in their cuticle and following pathogen-driven cuticular degradation. to resist infection, mosquitoes mount innate cellular and humoral immune responses that are elicited within minutes of exposure and can lead to pathogen death via three broadly defined mechanisms: lysis, melanization and hemocyte-mediated phagocytosis. This chapter reviews our current understanding of the mosquito immune system, with an emphasis on the physical barriers that prevent pathogens from entering the body, the organs and tissues that regulate immune responses and the mechanistic and molecular bases of immunity. © 2010 Landes Bioscience and Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.