A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito

Olivia V. Goldman; Alexandra E. DeFoe; Yanyan Qi; Yaoyu Jiao; Shih‐Che Weng; Brittney D Wick; Leah Houri-Zeevi; Priyanka Lakhiani; Takeshi Morita; Jacopo Razzauti; Adriana Rosas-Villegas; Yael N. Tsitohay; Madison M. Walker; Ben R. Hopkins; Joshua X.D. Ang; Igor A. Antoshechkin; Yu Cai; Fangying Chen; Yen-Chung Chen; Julien Devilliers; Linhan Dong; Roberto Feuda; Paolo Gabrieli; Artyom Kopp; Hyeogsun Kwon; Hsing-Han Li; Tzu‐Chiao Lu; Thalita Lucio; João Trindade Marques; Marcus Fernandes de Oliveira

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2025.10.008

GenomicsCellOct 30, 2025

Peer-reviewed journal article

A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito

Olivia V. Goldman iD, Alexandra E. DeFoe iD, Yanyan Qi iD, Yaoyu Jiao iD, Shih‐Che Weng iD, Brittney D Wick iD, Leah Houri-Zeevi iD, Priyanka Lakhiani iD, Takeshi Morita iD, Jacopo Razzauti iD, Adriana Rosas-Villegas iD, Yael N. Tsitohay iD, Madison M. Walker iD, Ben R. Hopkins iD, Joshua X.D. Ang, Igor A. Antoshechkin iD, Yu Cai, Fangying Chen iD, Yen-Chung Chen, Julien Devilliers iD, Linhan Dong iD, Roberto Feuda iD, Paolo Gabrieli iD, Artyom Kopp iD, Hyeogsun Kwon iD, , Nadav Shai iD

Abstract

The female Aedes aegypti mosquitos remarkable ability to hunt humans and transmit pathogens relies on her unique biology. Here, we present the Aedes aegypti Mosquito Cell Atlas, a comprehensive single-nucleus RNA sequencing dataset of more than 367,000 nuclei from 19 dissected tissues of adult female and male Aedes aegypti, providing cellular-level resolution of mosquito biology. We identify novel cell types and expand our understanding of sensory neuron organization of chemoreceptors to all sensory tissues. Our analysis uncovers male-specific cells and sexually dimorphic gene expression in the antenna and brain. In female mosquitoes, we find that glial cells in the brain, rather than neurons, undergo the most extensive transcriptional changes following blood feeding. Our findings provide insights into the cellular basis of mosquito behavior and sexual dimorphism. The Aedes aegypti Mosquito Cell Atlas resource enables systematic investigation of cell type-specific expression across all mosquito tissues.

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