Mosquito ookinete development

In immunologically stressed mosquitoes some or all of the ookinetes reaching the basal lamina may be subjected to melanization via the phenol oxidase cascade (Lehane et al., 2004b). Development underneath the basal lamina is thought to shield the developing oocyst from the mosquito immune system because the basal lamina is self however when unprotected the immune system can attack the developing oocyst. Indeed, melanized oocysts were first reported in non-natural mosquito vectors by Ross as black spores (Ross, 1923). 

Dessens, J. T., Siden-Kiamos, I., Mendoza, J., Mahairaki, V., Khater, E., Vlachou, D., Xu, X. J., Kafatos, F. C., Louis, C., Dimopoulos, G., and Sinden, R. E. (2003). SOAP, a novel malaria ookinete protein involved in mosquito midgut invasion and oocyst development. Mol. Microbiol. 49, 319-329. 

Zieler, H., Keister, D. B., Dvorak, J. A., and Ribeiro, J. M. (2001). A snake venom phospholipase A(2) blocks malaria parasite development in the mosquito midgut by inhibiting ookinete association with the midgut surface. ]. Exp. Biol. 204, 4157-4167. 

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