We are interested in microbes harbored by mosquitoes (microbiota), which help them or prevent them from transmitting diseases such as malaria or dengue fever. Mosquitoes who transmit parasites or viruses get infected by feeding on an infected host. The parasite or virus will only be transmitted if it makes it through several selective steps and if the mosquito survives beyond the pathogen’s incubation period. Mosquito permissiveness to infection and lifespan are both affected by the mosquito microbiota.
For instance, the microbiota of malaria vectors limits the infection success of parasites via immune induction and production of antiparasitic molecules and it also reduces mosquito lifespan. As such, the microbiota may reduce the risk of parasite transmission. Inversely, some bacteria and fungi increase the chance of dengue virus to make it in the mosquito gut. Microbes are useful for the development of mosquito larvae, whether considering vector of malaria parasites or of dengue virus. These features sugg
In our lab, we want to understand how bugs (mosquitoes), bugs (bacteria) and bugs (parasites/viruses) interact by studying the immune and metabolic pathways involved. But here’s a major problem in our field: the microbiota composition in lab mosquitoes is very different to that of wild mosquitoes. We are taking advantage of our location in French Guiana (a region of France located in South America) to combine field and lab research. In the field, we collect mosquitoes to study their microbiota and/or cultur