Epidemiological consequences of invasion-induced simultaneous erosion of vector-microbiota diversity. – Evasion

Many invasive species are a threat for environment, economy and global health. The Asian tiger mosquito Ae. albopictus is one of the most invasive pathogen vectors on earth. It is originating from South and East Asia and has been introduced in every inhabited continent. The mosquito can transmit more than 19 human and animal viruses including Chikungunya. After introduction in the Indian Ocean and Europe, the mosquito was proven to be involved in emerging and sometime drastic epidemic events of Chikungunya. The recent advances of our group have shown that during the invasion process, the mosquito experience a consistent pattern of genetic and microbiota immediate reductions. Furthermore, the microbiota and host genetic diversity have previously been shown to interfere with the insect life history traits, behavior and pathogen transmission. We hypothesize that the consequences of mosquito introductions on genetic diversity of the insect and their microbiota are affecting various traits that directly or indirectly modify its ability to transmit the Chikungunya virus. Therefore, we aim to (i) better evaluate those pattern with temporal sampling and estimation of the microbial and genetic diversity within and between years after introduction, (ii) use those data to manipulate the host - microbiota diversity under controlled conditions to quantify their impact on mosquito life history traits, behavior and competence toward the Chikungunya virus and finally (iii) to use those empirical data to improve our current model on the vector capacity of mosquitoes after territory invasion. Those results will constitute a first basis to further improve our prediction of vector-borne epidemies and could later be optimized with other relevant ecological parameters.