Chapter 6 - The Mosquito Immune System and Its Interactions With the Microbiota: Implications for Disease Transmission

Abstract

The recent explosion of interest in the mosquito gut microbiota has opened up the possibility of several novel interventions for vectorborne diseases. Through introduction of specific bacterial isolates to mosquito hosts, which directly affect the disease agents or induce mosquito resistance to them, or by targeting the microbiota interaction with the mosquito immune system causing dysbiosis and reduction of fitness, there are several potential means to exploiting the microbiota to lower disease transmission. The success of any of these strategies depends on a detailed, system-based understanding of the microbiota and its relationship with the mosquito host. On the one hand, the contribution of the microbiota to mosquito physiology, and the resistance and/or tolerance responses employed by the host to allow persistence of the microbiota while maintaining vigilance to infection are not well understood; on the other hand, the bacterial characteristics that permit persistence within the gut and homeostasis of the gut ecosystem in different nutritional states remain to be addressed. This chapter aims to provide insights into some of these important questions by examining the mosquito gut and its microbiota as a highly integrated system. The first part of this chapter reviews our understanding of the mosquito immune system, and the second part consolidates our knowledge of the mosquito microbiota. The third and last parts examine what is known about the interactions between the immune system and the microbiota.