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Project

Do microbiota in mosquito saliva play a role in arbovirus infection and disease?

In contrast to the mosquito midgut microbiome, the microbiome of mosquito saliva has not been studied. Interestingly, it was shown for the sand fly that midgut bacteria were egested in the saliva during biting and that these bacteria enhanced the disease induced by Leishmania parasites. The egestion of gut microbes in the saliva recruited neutrophils to the skin which was important for parasite dissemination. It is not known whether mosquitoes egest microbiota in their saliva during biting, making this one of the research questions in the arbovirus field. To the best of our knowledge, so far only the microbiome of mosquito salivary glands has been studied (not the microbiome of the saliva itself). One study investigated the salivary gland microbiome of Anopheles culicifacies, showing that this microbiome is more diverse than the midgut microbiome. Another group studied the microbiome of the salivary glands of six Anopheles species, two Aedes species and Cx. quinquefasciatus. In most samples, the salivary glands harbored more diverse microbiota than the midgut. Mosquito saliva is a key factor in arbovirus transmission by mosquitoes. These effects have been mainly ascribed to enzymes present in the saliva that modulate the immune system of the host. In these studies, the effect of the mosquito saliva microbiome on vector competence has been neglected. As the saliva of mosquitoes has been shown to be key for transmission and pathogenesis, mosquito microbiota in the saliva could be a major contributor to this effect. Our preliminary data indicate the mosquito saliva indeed contains microbiota (cf. infra). In this research project, we aim to address this knowledge gap, by characterizing the saliva microbiome of different mosquito species and by unraveling the potential biological role of saliva microbiota in arbovirus infection of a host and on arbovirus-induced disease.

Date:1 Sep 2021 →  31 Dec 2021
Keywords:Microbiome, Mosquito, Arbovirus
Disciplines:Microbiomes, Virology
Project type:PhD project