ANIHWA call2: Can we predict emergence and spread of Culicoides-borne arboviruses in Europe according to genetic drivers

库蠓（Culicoides biting midges）是目前欧洲最重要的家畜虫媒病毒生物媒介。蓝舌病病毒（BTV）和施马伦贝格病毒（SBV）的爆发继续通过临床疾病和实施动物贸易流动限制产生重大经济影响。最近在欧洲发现的至少三种库蠓传播病毒具有未知的来源，因此未来涉及库蠓传播病毒的描述或未描述菌株或种属的未来爆发具有很高的发生可能性。这些病毒可能包括已知虫媒病毒的进一步入侵（包括其他库蠓类-传染性病毒，如非洲马瘟病毒或动物流行性嗜血病毒）或对牲畜或人类致病性未知的尚未描述的种类。在本项目中，我们将解剖库蠓类媒介-虫媒病毒在多个生态系统和物种之间的关系，以及前所未有的详细信息，为确定入侵风险和随后蔓延。使用新开发的方法，血液饲料库蠓病毒的流行病学利益，我们将评估与载体的能力，可能是限制虫媒病毒在欧洲的运动相关的障碍。决定库蠓载体能力的基本遗传驱动因素，然后将探讨使用基因组技术，以确定影响这一过程的候选基因的面板。在鉴定之后，比较基因组学将在小组中鉴定物种特异性差异，这些差异将在北方和南欧的生态系统中进行检查。此外，我们还将研究兽医重要性的欧洲库蠓的病毒组，作为对载体能力的潜在影响，并作为了解人群内病毒多样性如何用于推断爆发风险的一种手段。使用宏基因组分析，我们将检查来自参与国家库蠓种群的病毒组，这些国家已经成为监测目的有针对性采样的对象。我们希望这将首次揭示库蠓体内病毒的真实多样性，并开始解开它们在致病病毒传播流行病学中的作用，为动物病毒载体的研究开辟一个新的领域。

Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are currently the most important biological vectors of livestock arboviruses in Europe. Outbreaks of bluetongue virus (BTV) and Schmallenberg virus (SBV) continue to have a significant economic impact through clinical disease and the imposition of animal trade movement restrictions. At least three Culicoides-borne viruses recently identified in Europe possess an unknown origin, hence future outbreaks involving described or undescribed strains or species of Culicoides-borne viruses have a high potential of occurring in the future. These viruses could include further incursions of known arboviruses (including additional species of Culicoides-bornearboviruses such as African horse sickness or Epizootic Haemorhagic Disease Virus) or as yet undescribed species with an unknown pathogenicity to livestock or humans.In this project we will dissect Culicoides vector-arbovirus relationships across multiple ecosystems and species and in unprecedented detail to provide data useful for both defining risk of incursion and subsequent spread. Using newly developed methods to blood-feed Culicoides viruses of epidemiological interest, we will assess barriers associated with vector competence that may underlie restrictions to arbovirus movement in Europe. The fundamental genetic drivers determining vector competence in Culicoides will then be explored using genomic techniques to identify panels of candidate genes influencing this process. Following identification, comparative genomics will identify species specific differences in panels which will be examined across ecosystems in Northern and Southern Europe. In addition, we will also examine the virome of EuropeanCulicoides of veterinary importance as a potential influence on vector competence and as a means of understanding how viral diversity within populations can be used to infer risk of outbreak. Using metagenomic analyses we will examine viromes from Culicoides populations across the participating countries that have already been the subject of targeted sampling for surveillance purposes. We expect this to reveal for the first time the true diversity of viruses present within Culicoides and to begin to untangle their role in the epidemiology of pathogenic virus transmission, opening a new field of research for animal virus vectors.