iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · 30/10/2025

Check out the Aedes aegypti Mosquito Cell Atlas for yourself!! Acessible from your web browser thanks to @genomebrowser.bsky.social & @ucscgenomics.bsky.social!! If you have a min to report to us what your favorite gene looks like, we would love to hear about it 😃✨ mosquito.cells.ucsc.edu

072

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · 05/03/2025

This project was truly a testament to collaborative science. It was such a pleasure to learn from and exchange perspectives with scientists from >15 insect labs across the globe while we interpreted this complex dataset. Thank you to all our contributors! 8/n

Authors for "Mosquito Cell Atlas: A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito"

Mosquito Cell Atlas Consortium authors (in alphabetical order).

140

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · 05/03/2025

Bloodfeeding triggers dramatic physiological & behavioral changes in female mosquitoes. We looked in the brain after feeding to understand which cellular substrates might underlie this shift. Unexpectedly, our data highlight the glia as possible mediators of this change! 6/n

UMAP of brain nuclei, colored by sample (female samples = 7, male samples = 2).

Bar plot of number of differentially expressed genes between blood feeding conditions and sugar-fed female brain, per cell type. Bars colored by blood feeding condition. Glia and neuron cell types listed below bars. Genes thresholded on |log fold change| > 1 and false discovery rate (fdr) < 0.05 (determined by MAST on normalized expression, which is ln([(raw count/total cell counts)x median total counts across cells]+1)).

162

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · 05/03/2025

Chemoreceptor gene expression is surprisingly similar between sexes across sensory organs. We found a precise exception. Previously we reported that Ir41l cells in the female antenna express Or82. Males have the same cell type, but without the Or82 receptor. 5/n

Heatmap of cells from female and male samples from annotated clusters Ir41l, Or3, and Ir41b. Selected genes are indicated in rows and cells indicated in columns. Cell types indicated below heatmap. Heatmap colors represent normalized expression.

Maximum-intensity projection of whole-mount female antennae with RNA in situ hybridization of Or82 (magenta), Ir41l (green), and DAPI nuclear staining (blue). Scale bar: 10 μm. Right side of each large image: enlarged view of highlighted white box on left, with the indicated probes. Scale bar: 5 μm.

130

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · 05/03/2025

We previously saw an unexpected degree of chemoreceptor gene family co-expression in the antenna (Herre, Goldman, et al. 2022). The tarsi and proboscis also demonstrate co-expression in specific cell types - even across sensory modalities, such as sweet taste & heat! 4/n

Photo of dissected female (top) and male (bottom) tarsi, (bottom) with anatomical diagram (in orange; labeling the foreleg, midleg and hindleg). Data was collected from the three most distal segments of the tarsi. Scale bar: 500 μm.

Heatmap of cells from all annotated clusters. Sensory genes are indicated in rows and cells indicated in columns. Cell types indicated below heatmap and respective sensory function indicated above. Heatmap colors represent normalized expression.

120

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · 05/03/2025

Only female bloodfeed & there are extreme differences in sensory biology across mosquito sexes. We provide insights to the cellular & molecular basis of this sexual dimorphism. For example, we discovered a completely undescribed male-specific cell type in the male antenna. 3/n

UMAP of antenna nuclei, colored by sample (female samples = 4, male samples = 1). Putative male-specific cluster highlighted in gray box.

Maximum-intensity projection of whole-mount male antenna with RNA in situ hybridization showing ppk317 probe (magenta) and nuclear staining (DAPI). Scale bar: 10 μm.

120

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · 05/03/2025

Mosquitoes spread viruses to >400 million people/year. Importantly, our work led to a complete parts list of gene expression. This will help develop hypotheses & spur discoveries into the unique biology of the mosquito. mosquito.cells.ucsc.edu Thank you UCSC Cell Browser team! 2/n

141

Olivia Goldman PhD @oliviagoldman.net · 05/03/2025

I am thrilled to present the Mosquito Cell Atlas! We analyzed 367K nuclei from 19 tissues in male & female mosquitoes, creating a comprehensive resource for vector biology & infectious disease research. Plus we made some surprising discoveries! 🦟🧵 biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n

Photos of Aedes aegypti female (left) and male (right). Numbers indicate location of collected tissues (listed in legend boxes). Photos by Alex Wild.

68442