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Fitness traits of Drosophila are believed to be expressed under genetic control and the environment. This study focuses on the interaction between the genotype (expressing high and low fitness level) of Drosophila melanogaster and the environment (diet and infection). The environmental factors are supposed to modify traits such as the survival rate, development time, adult dry weight and response to microbial infection. The results indicated that yeast species (nutrients), bacterial infection and the genotype of Drosophila affected the survival rates and the development time of Drosophila. The fit Drosophila produces more survivors and develops faster than the unfit one. The yeast, Pichia toletana induced the highest survival and the fastest development of Drosophila, while Metschnikowia pulcherrima induced the opposite. The origin also had an effect on the development time; the African lines developed faster than the European ones. The yeast species and its concentration appeared to affect the dry weight of Drosophila too. Following infection with Pseudomonas stutzeri, several antimicrobial peptides, such as drosomycin and metchnikowin have been activated in Drosophila adults when they feed on less nutritive yeast (M. pulcherrima). The above mentioned results support the capacity of genotype-by-environment interactions to shape the fitness of D. melanogaster, where the contribution of each factor may differ according to the trait observed and the population under investigation. ª 2015 The Egyptian German Society for Zoology. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a public health burden in several countries. Although transmission through blood is the most likely potential route of HCV infection, other sources warrant exploration. This study was designed to examine the possibility that the mosquito Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) might serve as a vector of HCV. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted in female Cx. pipiens that were fed on blood taken from HCV patients and tested for the presence of HCV RNAs using a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction technique. In addition, the ability of the female mosquito to transmit HCV to human blood through membrane feeding or to its offspring (larvae) was tested. Although positive strand RNA was detected on days 1,7 and 14, negative strand HCV RNA was detected in mosquito body homogenate on days 7 and 14. Positive strands were also detected in the head, alimentary canal and salivary glands of mosquito adults at 1 week post-feeding, as well as in their offspring (larvae). An ex vivo assay demonstrated that HCV-infected mosquitoes were able to transmit the virus RNA into naive human blood samples via a membrane feeder. The present data indicate that the mosquito Cx. pipiens may be a potential vector of HCV.

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