I-Corps: Quorum Sensing by Bacteria on Hosts Regulates Vector Attraction and Blood-Feeding

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是产生减少叮咬昆虫(如蚊子、黑蝇、沙蝇)的新方法，这些昆虫对人类、同伴动物和牲畜造成伤害。这些方法包括为试图叮咬人的成年昆虫开发新型驱避剂或陷阱。从商业角度来看，这种驱虫剂将是保护人类、宠物和牲畜免受这些叮咬昆虫侵害的理想选择。这些方法是一种更环保的方法，因为它们不依赖杀虫剂作为驱赶成虫的手段。还将利用这项技术设计陷阱，诱捕寻找产卵地点的雌性昆虫。在所有情况下，这些新方法都可以减少疾病的发生率，如寨卡病毒和西尼罗河病毒在人类或马脑炎中的发病率。这个I-Corps项目提供了对节肢动物行为生态学和宿主皮肤相关微生物群落利用的沟通途径之间的联系的更多了解，可能导致一个独特的研究领域，产生抑制病原体传播的新方法，从而减少寨卡病毒、疟疾、黄热病、登革热、利什曼病或其他媒介传播疾病的影响。阻止表皮葡萄球菌(人类皮肤常见细菌)之间的交流(即群体感应)导致埃及伊蚊(传播寨卡病毒病原体的蚊子)减少50%。此外，已经合成了许多由细菌产生的化合物，这些化合物抑制了竞争细菌的群体感应，目前已被联邦药物管理局批准用于癌症治疗或治疗慢性感染患者。例如，铜绿假单胞菌产生一种结构类似于可扩散信号因子的脂肪酸。这种非传统的群体感应抑制会导致原有生物膜的扩散，并阻止新的生物膜的发展。这些商业上可用的化合物，与我们的研究结果相结合，可能会导致现场应用的开发。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project will be the production of novel methods for reducing biting insects (e.g., mosquitoes, black flies, sand flies) causing harm to humans, companion animals and livestock. These methods include the development of novel repellents or traps for adult insects seeking to bite people. From a commercial perspective, such repellents would be ideal to protect humans, pets and livestock from these biting insects. These methods are a more environmentally friendly approach as they do not rely on insecticides as a means to repel adult insects. Traps will also be designed with this technology to trap female insects seeking locations to lay eggs. In all cases, these novel methods could reduce the incidence of disease, such as Zika and West Nile in humans or equine encephalitis.This I-Corps project provides a greater understanding of the link between arthropod behavioral ecology and the communication pathways utilized by the microbial communities associated with host skin could lead to a unique area of research, producing novel methods for suppressing pathogen tramnsmission, and thus reduce the impact of Zika virus, malaria, yellow fever, Dengue, leishmaniasis or other vector-borne diseases. Preventing communication (i.e., quorum sensing) between S. epidermidis (common bacterium on human skin) cells resulted in a 50% reduction of the mosquito Aedes aegypti (mosquito responsible for transmitting pathogen of Zika) to a blood-meal. Furthermore, many compounds produced by bacteria that inhibit quorum sensing by competing bacteria have been synthesized and presently are approved for use by the Federal Drug Administration as a cancer treatment or to treat patients with chronic infections. For example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces a fatty acid with structural similarity to diffusible signal factors. This non-traditional quorum sensing inhibition results in the dispersal of pre-existing biofilms and prevents new biofilm development. These same compounds, which are commercially available, in combination with the results from our research could lead to the development of field-ready applications.