Abstract
The influence of the time of day on the cutaneous immune response to mosquito feeding is not well understood. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes feed on mice throughout the day, and a bloodmeal is most often obtained at times of day that are equivalent to dawn (ZT1) and dusk (ZT11). We observed that cells in the murine skin elicited more differentially expressed genes at ZT11 compared to ZT1. Additionally, we detected more immune cells in the skin at ZT11 in response to a mosquito bite. These results suggest that assessments of host responses to a mosquito bite and mosquito-borne infections may be influenced by the diurnal rhythm.