Short Report J RNAi Gene Silenc (June 2009), 5(1), 345-350 doi: jrgsxx Published online: 17 June 2009 Full Text: (html | pdf ~802kb | refs) Silencing of carbonic anhydrase in an Anopheles gambiae larval cell line, Ag55 Kristin E Smith and Paul J Linser* Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, 9505 Ocean Shore Boulevard, St Augustine, FL 32080 USA *Correspondence to:: Paul Linser, Email: pjl@whitney.ufl.edu, Tel: +904 4614036, Fax: +904 4614010 Received: 20 January 2009, Revised: 29 March 2009, Accepted: 08 April 2009 © Copyright The Authors ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABSTRACT RNAi has been used extensively to down-regulate proteins in adult mosquitoes; however, it is not well adapted for use in larvae. Larval mosquitoes can generate a pH as high as 10.5 in the anterior region of their midgut. The mechanisms responsible for the generation and maintenance of this pH are not entirely understood, but members of the carbonic anhydrase (CA) family of enzymes have been implicated. Here we use an An. gambiae larval cell line, Ag55 cells, to demonstrate that application of full-length double-stranded RNA specific to one CA, AgCA9, is sufficient to silence AgCA9 mRNA and down-regulate the corresponding protein. This is a first step towards determining the role(s) of these enzymes in pH regulation. KEYWORDS:Carbonic anhydrase, Ag55, larval cell, Anopheles gambiae, RNAi, gene silencing ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Privacy | Disclaimer |