Mosquitoes are the major vectors for arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) of medical importance. Aedes aegypti and A. albopictus most prolific widespread mosquito being responsible global transmission dengue, Zika Chikungunya viruses. Characterizing collection circulating in mosquitoes, virome, has long been special interest. In addition to arboviruses, mosquitoes carry insect-specific (ISVs) ...

There are many exotic animal pathogens throughout the world that, if introduced into the United States. could have a significant detrimental impact on the health of livestock, agricultural economy, the environment, and public health. Many of these pathogens are arthropod-borne and potential vectors are readily available in the United States. A number of these arthropod-borne pathogens are discu...

Wolbachia are a genus of bacterial symbionts that are known to manipulate the reproduction of their arthropod hosts, both by distorting the host sex ratio and by inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility. Previous work has suggested that some Wolbachia clades specialize in particular host taxa, but others are diverse. Furthermore, the frequency with which related strains change in phenotype is unkno...

Vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue constitute a major obstacle to socio-economic development in much of the tropics and remain high on the list of priorities for the improvement of public health. Sadly, financial as well as logistical constraints prevent a rapid amelioration of this situation (Reducing risks, promoting healthy life 2002). Unlike other infectious diseases, vector-b...

We are developing a set of ontologies dealing with vector-borne diseases as well as the arthropod vectors that transmit them. After building ontologies for mosquito and tick anatomy we continued this project with an ontology of insecticide resistance followed by a series of ontologies that describe malaria as well as physiological processes of mosquitoes that are relevant to, and involved in, d...

Abstract Background and goals Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) is the causal agent of disease, a major threat to grape production vineyard profitability. Several species Cicadellidae Membracidae, including three-cornered alfalfa hopper (Spissistilus festinus), have been reported transmit GRBV in greenhouse, but their capacity act as vectors remains source...