Domestication of Aedes aegypti and the effect on virus diversity and distribution based on a field study in Benin, West Africa

• Applicant: Dr. Hanna Jöst
• Subject Area: Virology
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 380283251

Aedes aegypti is one of the most important vector for arboviruses. The evolutionary origin of Ae. aegypti lies in Sub-Saharan Africa, from where it spread throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The ancestral form could still be found in Africa and could morphologically be distinguished from the domesticated form. This form is found in close association with human habitats and breeds in artificial containers and primarily bites humans. With the domestication of vector species, including a change in the host-feeding behavior (zoophagy to anthropophagy), humans are challenged with new pathogens. Therefore the process of vector domestication is an extremely important phenomenon to understand the emergence of zoonoses. We want to gain new insights in how the adaption to the human environment influences vector behavior and if there are consequences on virus prevalence. Ae. aegypti will be trapped along a transect in Benin, West Africa, reaching from urban sites with high anthropogenic impact, over rural sites with medium anthrophogenic impact to sylvatic sites with low anthropogenic impact. All trapped Ae. aegypti should be analyzed with molecular genetic methods and metagenome analyses according to virus prevalence. The focus should not only be on known arboviruses, but rather on the detection of previously unknown and mosquito-only viruses. Furthermore the different Ae. aegypti populations should be analyzed according to changes in the basic transmission parameters (e.g. host-feeding preference, duration of the gonotrophic cycle, changed breeding behavior, larval development time). The link between habitat change and adaptions of the vector and associated pathogens are essential to understand the emergence of viruses transmitted between humans and wildlife.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Benin
• International Co-Applicant: Tadagbe Nanonfi William A. Yadouleton, Ph.D.