Genetic basis for host preference in Culex pipiens

项目摘要 当寻找血液时，蚊子物种通常偏向于一个宿主而不是其他宿主，这可以 严重影响它们将疾病传播给人类的可能性。越来越清楚的是， 寻找宿主的偏见是基于基因组的，但我们对确切的基因组驱动因素的了解存在重大差距 这些偏见仍然存在。就尖音库蚊而言，人们对是什么基因驱动宿主定位知之甚少 和喂养行为，但他们是西尼罗河病毒（WNV）的主要载体，在整个人类 美国东北部。西尼罗河病毒通常通过Cx的叮咬在鸟类之间传播。淡色 蚊子，但人类每年都发生疫情。Cx的两种可互育形式。pipiens，被称为真正的 pipiens和骚扰，使西尼罗河病毒传播情况复杂化。真正的风笛在地面上繁殖， 它们被认为主要以鸟类为食，而骚扰鸟则在人类居住地附近的地下繁殖， 哺乳动物，包括人类。目前的范例是，骚扰者和上述物种之间的杂交 西尼罗河病毒在人类中的传播增加。我们的研究旨在实证检验这一点 范例：1）量化地上pipiens，地下骚扰者及其杂交种的行为， 对鸟类和哺乳动物宿主的反应，并将宿主选择与潜在的基因组区域联系起来， 实验室设置，2）现场收集鸟类和哺乳动物喂养的Cx。pipiens来确定哪些区域的 蚊子的基因组与不同的宿主摄食有关，3）使用一个完善的流行病学 模型，以衡量鸟类之间的杂交效果和Cx的哺乳动物喂养形式。淡色 西尼罗河病毒在人类中传播的风险。

Project Summary When seeking blood, mosquito species are often biased toward one host over others, and this can significantly impact their likelihood of transmitting disease to humans. It is becoming increasingly clear that host seeking biases are genomically based, but significant gaps in our knowledge of the exact genomic drivers of these biases still exist. In the case of Culex pipiens, very little is known about what genes drive host location and feeding behaviors, and yet they are the primary vectors of West Nile virus (WNV) to humans across the Northeastern United States. WNV is typically transmitted from bird to bird by the bite of a Cx. pipiens mosquito, but human outbreaks occur annually. The two inter-fertile forms of Cx. pipiens, known as true pipiens and molestus, complicate the WNV transmission picture. True pipiens breeds above ground and is thought to primarily feed on birds, while molestus breeds below ground near human habitations, and feeds on mammals, including humans. The current paradigm is that interbreeding between molestus and the above ground pipiens forms leads to heightened human WNV transmission. Our research aims to empirically test this paradigm by: 1) quantifying the behaviors of above ground pipiens, below ground molestus and their hybrids in response to avian and mammalian hosts, and linking host choices to underlying genomic regions in a laboratory setting, 2) field-collecting avian and mammal-fed Cx. pipiens to determine which regions of the mosquito genome are associated with divergent host feeding, and 3) using a well-established epidemiological model to measure the effect of hybridization between the avian- and mammalian-feeding forms of Cx. pipiens on WNV transmission risk in humans.