Infection and maintenance of insect-specific viruses in insects

昆虫特异性病毒的感染和维持

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-05099
• 负责人: Patterson, Edward
• 金额: $ 2.84万
• 依托单位: Brock University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=744806
• 关键词: Infection; maintenance; insect; specific; viruses

There is an increased threat of disease caused by viruses transmitted by insects in Canada, and globally. This problem will continue because of changes in climate and land use. The long-term aim of this research is to produce a platform to inhibit insects from transmitting viruses and other pathogens. In general, two types of viruses are found in insects: i) viruses transmitted by insects that can cause disease in humans, animals or plants, like West Nile virus, and ii) viruses that only infect the insect, called insect-specific viruses. Some insect-specific viruses may be beneficial to society because they can prevent insects from being infected by or transmitting the viruses that cause disease. One particular group of insect-specific viruses that may be useful are called negeviruses. Negeviruses can block harmful viruses from infecting insect cells, and are found in many insects that transmit harmful viruses. There is the potential to intentionally infect insects with negeviruses in order to stop the harmful viruses, but we do not know how insects become infected with negeviruses, how they are spread in the insect population, or if they have any detrimental effects on insects. The proposed research project aims to answer three questions. Do negeviruses compete with other insect-specific viruses in the insects? How do negeviruses spread among insects? Do negeviruses cause disease in insects? We are well-equipped to answer these questions, and our experiments will involve mosquito cells, colonies of different mosquito species, other viruses that infect mosquitoes, and molecular biology tools. We will first see if negeviruses can infect mosquito cells and mosquitoes when other viruses are present, which is important because wild insects are often infected with various viruses. Next, we will test how negeviruses are spread amongst mosquitoes, and if they cause disease in mosquitoes. It will be important to learn how to infect wild insects and if negeviruses persist in the population because they leave the infected insect unharmed. These studies will underpin a strategy to deploy negeviruses in wild populations of insects. They will set up future research opportunities to determine if negeviruses infect other insects in the same way and potentially stop a wide range of harmful viruses. The potential benefits include reducing disease in humans, animals and plants in Canada and around the world.

在加拿大和全球范围内，由昆虫传播的病毒引起的疾病威胁越来越大。由于气候和土地使用的变化，这一问题将继续存在。这项研究的长期目标是建立一个平台，以抑制昆虫传播病毒和其他病原体。一般来说，在昆虫中发现两种类型的病毒：i）由昆虫传播的病毒，可以在人类，动物或植物中引起疾病，如西尼罗河病毒，和ii）只感染昆虫的病毒，称为昆虫特异性病毒。一些昆虫特有的病毒可能对社会有益，因为它们可以防止昆虫感染或传播导致疾病的病毒。一组可能有用的昆虫特异性病毒被称为负病毒。负病毒可以阻止有害病毒感染昆虫细胞，并在许多传播有害病毒的昆虫中发现。有可能故意用负病毒感染昆虫以阻止有害病毒，但我们不知道昆虫如何感染负病毒，它们如何在昆虫种群中传播，或者它们是否对昆虫有任何有害影响。该研究项目旨在回答三个问题。负病毒是否与昆虫中的其他昆虫特异性病毒竞争？负病毒如何在昆虫中传播？负病毒会引起昆虫疾病吗？我们有能力回答这些问题，我们的实验将涉及蚊子细胞、不同蚊子物种的菌落、感染蚊子的其他病毒以及分子生物学工具。我们将首先观察当其他病毒存在时，负病毒是否能感染蚊子细胞和蚊子，这很重要，因为野生昆虫经常感染各种病毒。接下来，我们将测试负病毒如何在蚊子中传播，以及它们是否会导致蚊子患病。了解如何感染野生昆虫以及负病毒是否在种群中持续存在是很重要的，因为它们不会伤害受感染的昆虫。这些研究将支持在野生昆虫种群中部署负病毒的策略。他们将建立未来的研究机会，以确定负病毒是否以同样的方式感染其他昆虫，并可能阻止各种有害病毒。潜在的好处包括减少加拿大和世界各地人类、动物和植物的疾病。