Variable effects of transient Wolbachia infections on alphaviruses in Aedes aegypti.

Wolbachia pipientis (= Wolbachia) has promise as a tool to suppress virus transmission by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. However, Wolbachia can have variable effects on mosquito-borne viruses. This variation remains poorly characterized, yet the multimodal effects of Wolbachia on diverse pathogens could have important implications for public health.

Variable effects of on alphavirus infection in .

(=) has promise as a tool to suppress virus transmission by mosquitoes. However, can have variable effects on mosquito-borne viruses. This variation remains poorly characterized, yet the multimodal effects of on diverse pathogens could have important implications for public health.

Inflammatory responses in the placenta upon SARS-CoV-2 infection late in pregnancy.

The effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on placental function is not well understood. Analysis of placentas from women who tested positive at delivery showed SARS-CoV-2 genomic and subgenomic RNA in 22 out of 52 placentas. Placentas from two mothers with symptomatic COVID-19 whose pregnancies resulted in adverse outcomes for the fetuses contained high levels of viral Alpha variant RNA.

SARS-CoV-2 Infects Syncytiotrophoblast and Activates Inflammatory Responses in the Placenta.

SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy leads to an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Although the placenta itself can be a target of virus infection, most neonates are virus free and are born healthy or recover quickly. Here, we investigated the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the placenta from a cohort of women who were infected late during pregnancy and had tested nasal swab positive for SARS-CoV-2 by qRT-PCR at delivery.

Vector competence of selected North American and mosquitoes for Zika virus.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a vector-borne flavivirus that has caused recent outbreaks associated with serious disease in infants and newborns in the Americas. mosquitoes are the primary vectors for ZIKV, but little is known about the diversity of mosquitoes that can transmit ZIKV in North America. We chose three abundant North American mosquito species (, , and ) and one known vector species (), fed them blood meals supplemented with a recent outbreak ZIKV strain, and tested bodies, legs, and saliva for infectious ZIKV.

Wolbachia effects on Rift Valley fever virus infection in Culex tarsalis mosquitoes.

Innovative tools are needed to alleviate the burden of mosquito-borne diseases, and strategies that target the pathogen are being considered. A possible tactic is the use of Wolbachia, a maternally inherited, endosymbiotic bacterium that can (but does not always) suppress diverse pathogens when introduced to naive mosquito species. We investigated effects of somatic Wolbachia (strain wAlbB) infection on Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) in Culex tarsalis mosquitoes.

Vector competence of and mosquitoes for Zika virus.

Zika virus is a newly emergent mosquito-borne flavivirus that has caused recent large outbreaks in the new world, leading to dramatic increases in serious disease pathology including Guillain-Barre syndrome, newborn microcephaly, and infant brain damage. Although mosquitoes are thought to be the primary mosquito species driving infection, the virus has been isolated from dozens of mosquito species, including and species, and we lack a thorough understanding of which mosquito species to target for vector control. We exposed , , and mosquitoes to blood meals supplemented with two Zika virus strains.

Challenges in the translation and commercialization of cell therapies.

Background: Cell therapies are an emerging form of healthcare that offer significant potential to improve the practice of medicine and provide benefits to patients who currently have limited or no treatment options. Ideally, these innovative therapies can complement existing small molecule, biologic and device approaches, forming a so-called fourth pillar of medicine and allowing clinicians to identify the best treatment approach for each patient. Despite this potential, cell therapies are substantially more complex than small molecule or biologic interventions.

Increased replicative fitness of a dengue virus 2 clade in native mosquitoes: potential contribution to a clade replacement event in Nicaragua.

Unlabelled: The four dengue virus (DENV) serotypes (DENV serotype 1 [DENV-1] to DENV-4) are transmitted by Aedes aegypti and A. albopictus mosquitoes, causing up to 390 million DENV infections worldwide each year. We previously reported a clade replacement of the DENV-2 Asian-American genotype NI-1 clade by the NI-2B clade in Managua, Nicaragua.

Native microbiome impedes vertical transmission of Wolbachia in Anopheles mosquitoes.

Over evolutionary time, Wolbachia has been repeatedly transferred between host species contributing to the widespread distribution of the symbiont in arthropods. For novel infections to be maintained, Wolbachia must infect the female germ line after being acquired by horizontal transfer. Although mechanistic examples of horizontal transfer exist, there is a poor understanding of factors that lead to successful vertical maintenance of the acquired infection.

Wolbachia enhances West Nile virus (WNV) infection in the mosquito Culex tarsalis.

Novel strategies are required to control mosquitoes and the pathogens they transmit. One attractive approach involves maternally inherited endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria. After artificial infection with Wolbachia, many mosquitoes become refractory to infection and transmission of diverse pathogens.

Effects of larval rearing temperature on immature development and West Nile virus vector competence of Culex tarsalis.

Background: Temperature is known to induce changes in mosquito physiology, development, ecology, and in some species, vector competence for arboviruses. Since colonized mosquitoes are reared under laboratory conditions that can be significantly different from their field counterparts, laboratory vector competence experiments may not accurately reflect natural vector-virus interactions.

Methods: We evaluated the effects of larval rearing temperature on immature development parameters and vector competence of two Culex tarsalis strains for West Nile virus (WNV).

Larval nutritional stress does not affect vector competence for West Nile virus (WNV) in Culex tarsalis.

In some mosquito species the conditions experienced by larvae during development have been shown to lead to changes in susceptibility to various arboviruses in the adult female. Since laboratory mosquitoes are generally reared under ideal conditions, mosquito vector competence experiments in the laboratory may not accurately reflect vector?virus relationships in nature. We examined the consequences of larval nutritional stress on Culex tarsalis vector competence for West Nile virus (WNV).

Requirement of glycosylation of West Nile virus envelope protein for infection of, but not spread within, Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito vectors.

Most of sequenced West Nile virus (WNV) genomes encode a single N-linked glycosylation site on their envelope (E) proteins. We previously found that WNV lacking the E protein glycan was severely inhibited in its ability to replicate and spread within two important mosquito vector species, Culex pipiens and Cx. tarsalis.