RiftVectors: Vector competence of European mosquitoes to Rift Valley fever virus

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RVFV is an arbovirus readily transmitted through several mosquito genera including Aedes and Culexmosquito vectors, and has a large host range. The recent expansion of the geographical range of RVFVclearly indicates that RVFV is not restricted to Africa. It has been proposed that a single infected personor animal that enters a naive country is sufficient to initiate an outbreak. This transmission scenario isbecoming more probable due to the expansion of worldwide trade and travel. The objectives of thisEmida project, RiftVectors, will be to understand the biology of natural RVFV vectors and their counterparts inEurope as an indicator for assessing the risk of RVFV to be established in Europe.Within this Emida project, we will further analyze, and develop new methods to distinguish vector and potential vector species, and analyze whether they can transmit RVFV- especially european mosquitoes which may be able to transmit RVFV. We will also analyze how the immune system of mosquito vectors can control RVFV infection, and how this relates to whether mosquitoes can transmit RVFV or whether novel antiviral targets can be discovered. Interestingy, endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria of insects now are widely used in symbiosis-based control strategies against arboviruses. We will analyze what the effect of Wolbachia on the vector competence of mosquitoes to RVFV will be, and if this could be used as a control strategy against this virus.Our international consortium of partners has the expertise to tackle these questions on thevectors of RVFV. We expect that our results will improve assessments of when and whichmosquito species could spread RVFV, and we aim to identify novel ways of controllingRVFV emergence.