Our Focus

Urbanization, globalization and increased migration have made the vector-borne viral diseases dengue, Zika and chikungunya fever significant global public health threats. The mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are the main arboviral vectors world-wide. Current research being conducted in our laboratory seeks to reduce the impact of Aedes mosquitoes on human health by studying aspects of their biology and genome structure that could be applied to innovative control strategies. We are also invested in capacity building to study mosquito biodiversity and adaptation of invasive species in Italy.

Our main collaborators include:

Dr Alessandra Della Torre, Università Sapienza, Roma, Italy
Dr Irene Ricci, Camerino University, Italy
Dr Roberto Rosà, Trento University, Italy
Dr Anna-Bella Failloux, Pasteur Institut, France
Dr Cristina Crava, Valencia University, Spain
Dr Ronald van Rij, Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands
Dr Jayme Souza-Neto, São Paulo State University, Brasil
Dr Cristiano Salata, University of Padova, Italy
Dr Chloé Lahondère, Virginia Tech, Virginia, USA
Dr Guido Favia, Camerino University, Italy
Dr Robert Waterhouse, Lausanne University, Switzerland

Specific Interests

Mosquito Biodiversity and Repository

The term “mosquito-borne diseases” refers to a broad spectrum of diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, Lyme disease and filariasis, that are transmitted to humans through the bite of mosquitoes belonging to the Culicidae family. This family comprises more than 3400 mosquito species, which are classified into two subfamilies: the Anophelinae subfamily, including mostly vectors of protozoan parasites, and the Culicinae subfamily, including arboviral vectors. While all mosquito species able to vectors pathogens to humans have in common requiring a blood meal to acquire nutrients for egg development, they differ greatly in their capacity to support pathogen replication and transmission (vector competence), their ecological distribution and plasticity, feeding preferences, biting and resting behaviours. These phenotypes greatly influence the interaction between mosquitoes and humans, thus the risk of disease transmission. As a consequence, the knowledge of mosquito bionomics is essential to establish a risk map for mosquito-borne diseases and eventually organise effective control strategies. Importantly, the landscape of vectors is dynamic as a result not only of human interventions, but also due to biological invasions and competition among species. In Italy, there are 64 autochthonous mosquito species while several, including the main arboviral vector Aedes albopictus, have recently invaded and established. In the PRIN2020 Project 2020XYBN88, we are working under the leadership of Alessandra Della Torre (Sapienza University) to build the first population-based biobank of Italian Culicidae: MosqIT biobank. MosqIT will serve to survey the biodiversity of Italian mosquitoes, monitor species distribution and abundance and will support retrospective and prospective genetic studies, such as resolution of species complex, detection and monitoring of insecticide resistance, analyses of mosquito microbiota and identification of invasion routes. Overall, these are essential information to build maps for the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, identify adequate vector control strategies and work towards the development of innovative control methods.

Endogenous Viral Elements

Once infected with an arbovirus, mosquitoes become persistently infected for life. Mosquito competence for arboviruses is a complex and evolving phenotype because it depends on the interaction of genetic factors from both mutation-prone RNA viruses and mosquito vectors with environmental variables. The co-evolution between arboviruses and Aedes mosquitoes implies adaptation and counter-adaptation strategies, which may include horizonal gene transfer events. In 2017, we demonstrated that the genomes of both Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus harbor hundreds of sequences from non-retroviral RNA viruses, differently than the genomes of Anophelinae mosquitoes, which are mostly protozoan vectors (Palatini et al.). Throughout the years, we have developed bioinformatic tools (github.com/BonizzoniLab) to study the occurrence of non-retroviral endogenous viral elements (nrEVEs) in genome assemblies and whole- genome sequencing data of wild-collected mosquitoes. We are also investigating the genome distribution of nrEVEs and their potential adaptive role (Crava et al.).

The research on viral integrations funded by a Human Frontier Science Program Research grant (RGP0007/2017); by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research FARE-MIUR project R1623HZAH5 to M.B.; and the European Research Council Consolidator Grant (ERC-CoG) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme (Grant No. ERC-CoG 682394)

Mosquitoes and Climate Change

With global climate change, mean environmental temperatures (ta) and the frequency of extreme weather events are increasing and favour the expansion of distribution range of mosquitoes, thereby increasing the risk of disease outbreaks. Because mosquitoes are ectotherms, T a directly affects their physiology, fitness, seasonal activity, and, ultimately, their adaptability to new environments. As a consequence, climate change is a strong selective force, known to cause behavioural, physiological and genetic adaptations in Drosophila and other insects. Thermal adaptation remains poorly understood in disease vector mosquitoes, both phenotypically, behaviorally and genetically. We are actively working with thermal biology expert Chloé Lahondére from Virgina Tech to investigate variations in thermal-related phenotypes across mosquito species and populations and assess the genetic underpinnings of thermal adaptation in Aedes spp. mosquitoes. Because mosquito physiology is highly dependent on its microbiota, we are also collaborating with microbiome expert Guido Favia from the Univerisity of Camerino to assess microbiota contribution to climate adaptation in Aedes species that are invasive in Italy.