Water-induced strong protection against acute exposure to low subzero temperature of adult Aedes albopictus

As an important vector of dengue and Zika, Aedes albopictus has been the fastest spreading invasive mosquitoes in the world over the last 3–4 decades. Cold tolerance is important for survival and expansion of insects. Ae. albopictus adults are generally considered to be cold-intolerant that cannot survive at subzero temperature. However, we found that Ae. albopictus could survive for several hours’ exposure to -9 to -19 (o)C so long as it was exposed with water. Median lethal time (LT(50)) of Ae. albopictus exposed to -15 and -19 (o)C with water increased by more than 100 times compared to those exposed to the same subzero temperature without water. This phenomenon also existed in adult Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. Ae. albopictus female adults which exposed to low subzero temperature at -9 (o)C with water had similar longevity and reproductive capacity to those of females without cold exposure. Cold exposure after a blood meal also have no detrimental impact on survival capacity of female adult Ae. albopictus compared with those cold exposed without a blood meal. Moreover, our results showed that rapid cold hardening (RCH) was induced in Ae. albopictus during exposing to low subzero temperature with water. Both the RCH and the relative high subzero temperature of water immediate after cold exposure might provide this strong protection against low subzero temperature. The molecular basis of water-induced protection for Ae. albopictus might refer to the increased glycerol during cold exposure, as well as the increased glucose and hsp70 during recovery from cold exposure. Our results suggested that the water-induced strong protection against acute decrease of air temperature for adult mosquitoes might be important for the survival and rapid expansion of Ae. albopictus.