Microbes increase thermal sensitivity in the mosquito Aedes aegypti, with the potential to change disease distributions.

ABSTRACT: The mosquito Aedes aegypti is the primary vector of many disease-causing viruses, including dengue (DENV), Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever. As consequences of climate change, we expect an increase in both global mean temperatures and extreme climatic events. When temperatures fluctuate, mosquito vectors will be increasingly exposed to temperatures beyond their upper thermal limits. Here, we examine how DENV infection alters Ae. aegypti thermotolerance by using a high-throughput physiological 'knockdown' assay modeled on studies in Drosophila. Such laboratory measures of thermal tolerance have previously been shown to accurately predict an insect's distribution in the field. We show that DENV infection increases thermal sensitivity, an effect that may ultimately limit the geographic ran

SUBMITTER: Ware-Gilmore F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8297775 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature