Abstract
Control of aedine mosquito vectors, either by mosquito population reduction or replacement with refractory mosquitoes, may play an essential role in the fight against arboviral diseases. In this review, we will focus on the development and application of biological approaches, both natural or engineered, to limit mosquito vector competence for arboviruses. The study of mosquito antiviral immunity has led to the identification of a number of host response mechanisms and proteins that are required to control arbovirus replication in mosquitoes, though more factors influencing vector competence are likely to be discovered. We will discuss key aspects of these pathways as targets either for selection of naturally resistant mosquito populations or for mosquito genetic manipulation. Moreover, we will consider the use of endosymbiotic bacteria such as Wolbachia, which in some cases have proven to be remarkably efficient in disrupting arbovirus transmission by mosquitoes, but also the use of naturally occurring insect-specific viruses that may interfere with arboviruses in mosquito vectors. Finally, we will discuss the use of paratransgenesis as well as entomopathogenic fungi, which are also proposed strategies to control vector competence.
Highlights
Female anautogenous mosquitoes need a blood meal from a vertebrate host to reproduce
The inhibitory effect or increased pathogenicity of the mosquito-borne flavivirus dengue virus (DENV) in mosquito cells or mosquitoes persistently infected with the ambidensovirus DNVs [96,103], supports the ability of Insect-Specific Viruses (ISVs) to interfere with arboviral infections even if they belong to different virus families within some combinations
On the other hand, Bolling et al have reported an early suppression of West Nile virus (WNV) in CxFv persistently infected Cx. pipiens, resulting in delayed transmission of WNV [91]. These examples highlight the fact that ISVs have a potential to be used to control arbovirus infections, more research is required to understand these interactions in detail before they could potentially be used as biological control measures
Summary
Female anautogenous mosquitoes need a blood meal from a vertebrate host to reproduce. Significant advances in knowledge about the mechanisms of interactions between mosquitoes and arboviruses have been made, especially regarding the influence of mosquito antiviral responses on arbovirus propagation, genetic and phenotypic variation affecting these interactions, the impact of these interactions on mosquito fitness, and how environmental factors affect arbovirus transmission [23,26,30,31] This opens the way for the development of novel disease control strategies by altering mosquito vector competence. We will discuss the use of naturally occurring insect-specific viruses that may interfere with arboviruses in mosquito vectors as well as paratransgenesis of endosymbionts to control mosquito vector competence
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