Overview of paratransgenesis as a strategy to control pathogen transmission by insect vectors

Abstract

This article presents an overview of paratransgenesis as a strategy to control pathogen transmission by insect vectors. It first briefly summarises some of the disease-causing pathogens vectored by insects and emphasises the need for innovative control methods to counter the threat of resistance by both the vector insect to pesticides and the pathogens to therapeutic drugs. Subsequently, the state of art of paratransgenesis is described, which is a particularly ingenious method currently under development in many important vector insects that could provide an additional powerful tool for use in integrated pest control programmes. The requirements and recent advances of the paratransgenesis technique are detailed and an overview is given of the microorganisms selected for genetic modification, the effector molecules to be expressed and the environmental spread of the transgenic bacteria into wild insect populations. The results of experimental models of paratransgenesis developed with triatomines, mosquitoes, sandflies and tsetse flies are analysed. Finally, the regulatory and safety rules to be satisfied for the successful environmental release of the genetically engineered organisms produced in paratransgenesis are considered. Graphical Abstract

Immune-related transcripts, microbiota and vector competence differ in dengue-infected geographically distinct Aedes aegypti populations

“…Additionally, VDA contained the most diverse microbiota species, which may contribute to its reduced vector competence. Deciphering the components of mosquito microbiota and targeting the microbial candidates with particular attributes, could contribute to reducing the mosquito borne diseases through novel symbiotic control approaches [89][90][91]. All in all, we offered a comprehensive study to identify the possible factors that in uence resistance to DENV-2 in Ae.…”

Diversity of bacterial symbionts associated with the tropical plant bug Monalonion velezangeli (Hemiptera: Miridae) revealed by high-throughput 16SrRNA sequencing.

“…Several bacteria isolates found in M. velezangeli's microbiota that belong to genera Paracoccus, Methylobacterium and Sphingomonas, which contain mostly aerobic species; are potential culturable strains and may also represent candidate symbionts for paratransgenic approaches such as symbiont-mediated RNAi (Dyson et al 2022). The use of bacteria within paratransgenesis applications requires a culturable symbiont genetically manipulable (Ratcliffe et al 2022) and especially amenable under aerobic culturable conditions for greater ease in the engineering and experimentation processes. Future attempts for selection of culturable bacterial isolates from the insect gut tissues will reveal what microbes have these characteristics in M. velezangeli's microbiota.…”

Diversity of bacterial symbionts associated with the tropical plant bug Monalonion velezangeli (Hemiptera: Miridae) revealed by high-throughput 16SrRNA sequencing.

“…Several bacteria isolates found in M. velezangeli's microbiota that belong to genera Paracoccus, Methylobacterium, Sediminibacterium and Sphingomonas, which contain mostly aerobic species; are potential culturable strains and may also represent candidate symbionts for paratransgenic approaches such as symbiont-mediated RNAi (Dyson et al 2022). The use of bacteria within paratransgenesis applications requires a culturable symbiont genetically manipulable (Ratcliffe et al 2022) and especially amenable under aerobic culturable conditions for greater ease in the engineering and experimentation processes. Future attempts for selection of culturable bacterial isolates from the insect gut tissues will reveal what microbes have these characteristics in M. velezangeli's microbiota.…”