Figure 6

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) directly affected duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) infection in Aedes albopictus. In mosquitoes, the individual AMP genes (CECA, CECB, CECE, CECI, and DEFC) were simultaneously silenced with the 34 kDa via the intrathoracic injection of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). The control mosquitoes were intrathoracically injected with dsRNA targeting LacZ. Three days later, the mosquitoes were inoculated with DTMUV. Total RNA from the mosquito’s whole body was collected on day 7 post-infection. The viral load was assessed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and the data were presented as the number of DTMUV genome copies per 250 ng of RNA. The result is representative of two independent experiments. One dot represents an individual mosquito, and the horizontal line represents the mean of the results. Statistically significant differences between the control and experimental mosquitoes were analyzed using an unpaired t-test. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant.