Intrinsic factors driving mosquito vector competence and viral evolution: a review

Juliette Lewis; Emily N Gallichotte; Jenna Randall; Arielle Glass; Brian D Foy; Gregory D Ebel; Rebekah C Kading

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2023.1330600

Intrinsic factors driving mosquito vector competence and viral evolution: a review

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023 Dec 21:13:1330600. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1330600. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Juliette Lewis^#¹, Emily N Gallichotte^#¹, Jenna Randall¹, Arielle Glass², Brian D Foy¹, Gregory D Ebel¹, Rebekah C Kading¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Vector-borne Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States.
² Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Mosquitoes are responsible for the transmission of numerous viruses of global health significance. The term "vector competence" describes the intrinsic ability of an arthropod vector to transmit an infectious agent. Prior to transmission, the mosquito itself presents a complex and hostile environment through which a virus must transit to ensure propagation and transmission to the next host. Viruses imbibed in an infectious blood meal must pass in and out of the mosquito midgut, traffic through the body cavity or hemocoel, invade the salivary glands, and be expelled with the saliva when the vector takes a subsequent blood meal. Viruses encounter physical, cellular, microbial, and immunological barriers, which are influenced by the genetic background of the mosquito vector as well as environmental conditions. Collectively, these factors place significant selective pressure on the virus that impact its evolution and transmission. Here, we provide an overview of the current state of the field in understanding the mosquito-specific factors that underpin vector competence and how each of these mechanisms may influence virus evolution.

Keywords: antiviral immunity; applications; arbovirus; barriers; genomics; microbiome; transmission.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Arthropod Vectors
Culicidae*
Mosquito Vectors*
Saliva

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. RCK, and JL are receiving salary support from the United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service (Project # 58-3022-1-001). EG was supported by funding to Verena (viralemergence.org) from the U.S. National Science Foundation, NSF BII 2213854. The content of the information does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the federal government.