Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

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.