Molecular Interactions of Viruses and Mosquitoes

Dear Colleagues,

Mosquito-transmitted arboviruses are severely impacting human health, predominantly in the tropical regions of the world. The flaviviruses dengue, Zika, and West Nile viruses and the alphavirus, chikungunya virus, are examples of medically-important arboviruses efficiently transmitted by culicine mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, and Culex spp. These viruses are difficult to control because of the high abundance of efficient vectors in populated tropical regions and the paucity of effective vaccines to protect humans against these viruses. Thus, mosquito control remains the main strategy to combat arboviruses, which is further complicated by the fact that mosquitoes are developing resistance to a range of routinely used insecticides. Arboviruses form an intricate and highly specific molecular relationship with their mosquito vectors. A virus must overcome various molecular hurdles in the mosquito leading to its systemic and persistent infection before the virus can be transmitted to a vertebrate host. Novel genetic control strategies aim to interrupt the arboviral disease cycle in the mosquito vector by finding ways to disturb the fine-tuned molecular relationship between a virus and its vector, for example, by manipulating gene expression and molecular pathways involved in systemic infection. These approaches require a deep understanding of mosquito–arbovirus interactions at the molecular level.

This Special Issue of Insects invites authors to present their latest findings regarding molecular arbovirus–mosquito interactions that make up vector competence. Highly appropriate would be any original research studies or review articles describing molecular interactions of arboviruses with immune pathways leading to antiviral responses of the vector, viral determinants or genetic traits of the vector affecting systemic virus infection and transmission, or molecular features of tissue entry (exit) barriers that affect systemic virus infection of the mosquito. Furthermore, studies investigating molecular interactions of arboviruses with other microbial entities in the vector such as the microbiome and bacterial endosymbionts, insect-specific viruses, or a co-infecting arbovirus would be exciting contributions for this Special Issue.

Dr. Alexander W.E. Franz
Guest Editor

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