Nematode parasitism of arbovirus vectors: effect of mermithids on Culicoides biting midges and their potential use for disease and vector control

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Biting midges are a group of tiny flying insects that include a notorious species that plagues parts of Scotland. They are one of the most abundant blood-feeding insects and occur throughout most of the inhabited world. Certain species commonly found on farms are important carriers of livestock viruses in Europe. Methods to control these insects have so far been unsuccessful.The emergence of the livestock diseases bluetongue (BT) in 2007 and Schmallenberg (SB) in 2011 in the UK highlight that midge transmitted viruses are a potential threat to the UK. They also spread African horse sickness (AHS), a highly lethal disease of horses, considered a risk to Europe. To date, over 50 viruses have been isolated from midges, causing significant economic impact through clinical disease and animal trade restrictions. Outbreaks of BT are ongoing in mainland Europe, so further outbreaks may occur in the UK. Currently we rely on vaccinating animals against some of these diseases, as control of insects transmitting them has been unsuccessful. Such vaccination is not routinely undertaken in UK livestock, and tends to only occur once an outbreak has been confirmed. Vaccines licensed for use in Europe do not exist for many diseases, including AHS and many types of BT. It is therefore paramount to determine other ways to manage such outbreaks to allow informed mitigation procedures in advance of, or in the event of, an outbreak.My aim is to investigate the effects of a highly prevalent parasitic worm (mermithid nematodes) on the biology of Culicoides midges and to determine whether they affect a midge's ability to be infected by and transmit livestock viruses. Mermithids are a major group of nematode that live inside the larvae of midges, and other insects, often killing them when they emerge; but may be carried into the adult insect, sterilizing them as a result. These mermithids are present in UK midges and the successful use of mermithids to control mosquito populations suggests that there may be potential in their use for midge control, yet no information exists on mermithid parasitism of these midge vectors in Europe.At the University of Liverpool, using Culicoides from across England and Wales, I aim to study the distribution of these nematodes and assess whether this changes between years. Despite their importance, very few mermithids have been successfully identified so I will use DNA-based techniques to determine the species parasitising UK midges, before establishing reliable identification techniques to enable other researchers to build on such work in the future. Any parasite which may be useful for Culicoides control must have an economical method of mass rearing, so a laboratory rearing method will be established and the possibility of storage and transportation determined, allowing field testing at a later date. Similar rearing methods have been successful in the USA, and this part of the project will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of California, Riverside. Most crucially, the effect of parasitism by mermithids will be assessed on the lifecycle, reproduction and fitness of the midges before being infected with BT and SB viruses and assessed for their ability to transmit virus, the dosage of virus needed to achieve infection, and their survival. Here both wild-caught and colony reared midges, supplied by the Pirbright Institute, will be infected with mermithids and virus at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.This project will gather information relevant to a wide range of arthropod vectors, such as UK mosquitoes, as well as other humans and livestock vector-borne diseases. In the event of an outbreak the work may provide information for more effective vector control and will arm policy makers with information that can be useful for i) understanding methods to control midge-borne diseases; ii) reducing the chances of an outbreak occurring; iii) more effectively dealing with an outbreak occurrence.