Location: Foreign Arthropod Borne Animal Disease Research
Project Number: 3022-32000-025-026-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2024
End Date: Sep 30, 2027
Objective:
The objective of this project is to develop and utilize electropenetrography (EPG) methods and study the feeding behaviors of blood-feeding arthropods, including mosquitoes. EPG provides a unique strategy to study arthropod feeding behaviors in detail and qualitatively and quantitatively describe how specific arthropod feeding behaviors change in response to pathogen infection or differences in host and/or vector variables. In this cooperative project, the primary target blood-feeding arthropod will be the mosquito, with Culex spp. and Aedes spp. as target species because of their association with transmission of transboundry pathogens that are endemic, emerging, or pose an impending threat to U.S. livestock agriculture industries and food security. EPG will be used to provide insight into mosquito feeding behaviors, arbovirus (e.g. Flaviviridae) transmission, and evaluation of existing and novel intervention strategies to break arbovirus transmission cycles.
Aim 1: Refine and optimize EPG tools and procedures for use with blood-feeding arthropods, prioritizing mosquitoes.
Aim 2: Evaluate how differences in vector characteristics (e.g. infection, genetic modification, sex, parity) or host characteristics (e.g. infection status, physiologic state, signalment, artificial host substrate) impacts mosquito blood-feeding behaviors.
Aim 2A: Evaluate the impact of pathogen infection on mosquito blood-feeding behaviors.
Aim 2B: Evaluate the impact of host variables on mosquito blood-feeding behaviors.
Aim 2C: Evaluate the impact of vector characteristics on mosquito (e.g. Culex spp.) blood-feeding behaviors.
Approach:
Aim 1 will continue to develop and iteratively evaluate procedures for handling and performing EPG on mosquitoes (e.g. Culex spp.) using an AC-DC EPG system. As the host may affect the waveform, data will be collected from diverse mammalians hosts in different containment settings. Project-generated mosquito EPG recordings will be used to help develop and train an automated software program to identify waveforms to improve and standardize waveform analysis workflow. In addition, EPG recordings from this project will contribute to the generation of a repository for EPG recordings. This repository will contain EPG recordings from blood-feeding arthropods.
Using an AC-DC EPG system, the impact of arbovirus infection on mosquito blood-feeding behaviors will be evaluated as part of Aim 2. Each component of the vector-host-pathogen triad will be investigated to dissect their influence on the expression of mosquito feeding behaviors. Initially, the feeding behaviors of Culex spp. will be characterized and correlated to specific waveforms.
The influence of ‘pathogen’ on the expression of specific feeding behaviors (waveforms) will be investigated by comparing how feeding behaviors are altered by pathogen infection. Identification of specific mosquito feeding behaviors, necessary or essential, to pathogen (arbovirus) acquisition or transmission by mosquitoes will provide novel insight into the mechanisms of pathogen transmission and opportunities for implementation of interdiction methods.
The influence of ‘host’ on the expression of specific feeding behaviors (waveforms) will be investigated by comparing the feeding behaviors of mosquitoes on different host species. Other host variables that may be explored include host signalment, live versus artificial host feeding systems, and host immune status. The influence of ‘vector’ on the expression of specific feeding behaviors (waveforms) will be investigated by varying mosquito species and source. Understanding how host and vector variables specifically influence specific mosquito feeding behaviors will provide novel insight into the dynamic interplay between host and vector which may enable novel interventions to disrupt these critical mosquito feeding behaviors.
