Amounts of glycogen, lipid, and sugar in adult female Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) fed sucrose

Abstract

We examined the amount of glycogen, lipid, and sugar in small and large female Ae. aegypti (L.) that were fed different concentrations of sucrose. Replicate groups of laboratory-reared teneral females (≤1 d old) were allowed to feed ad libidum on a 0, 5, 10, 15, or 20% sucrose solution, and total glycogen, lipids, and sugars were assayed at 4, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after exposure to sugar. Mosquitoes fed sugar increased nutrient levels with time. The pattern of accumulation was significantly different between small and large mosquitoes. Large mosquitoes accumulated larger amounts of glycogen than small ones. Accumulation of lipid increased sooner in small (4 h) than large (48 h) Ae. aegypti. A significant size × time interaction for the amount of sugar per female indicated that small mosquitoes may need to feed more than once during a 72-h period to compensate for low energy reserves at emergence. We conclude that the pattern of energy utilization from sugar meals by Ae. aegypti is influenced by the amount of energy reserves that they have before feeding and not by the concentration of sugar on which they feed.