Microarray analysis of genes showing variable expression following a blood meal in Anopheles gambiae

A microarray analysis of 14 900 genes of the malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, shows that as many as 33% (4924) of their corresponding transcription products vary in abundance within 24 h after a blood meal. Approximately half (2388) of these products increase in their accumulation and the remainder (2536) decrease. Expression dynamics of 80% of the genes analysed by expressed sequence tag (EST) projects reported previously are consistent with the observations from this microarray analysis. Furthermore, the microarray analysis is more sensitive in detecting variation in abundance of gene products expressed at low levels and is more sensitive overall in that a greater number of regulated genes are detected. Major changes in transcript abundance were seen in genes encoding proteins involved in digestion, oogenesis and locomotion. The microarray data and an electronic hyperlinked version of all tables are available to the research community at http://www.angagepuci.bio.uci.edu/1/.