Research

During my Ph.D, my research focused on two main topics; Diapause and Mosquito/Wolbachia interactions. During diapause in mosquitoes, stress resistance, cold tolerance, efficient storage and utilization of energy are crucial for prolonging lifespan and surviving prolonged periods of developmental arrest while maximizing reproductive success once diapause is terminated and development recommences. In the mosquito Culex pipiens, we suggested that glycogen synthase played a critical role in glycogen and lipid storage, oxidor (oxidoreductin like protein) enhanced oxidative stress tolerance and PDZ enhanced actin fortification in muscle tissue to increase cold tolerance. Expression of these genes were two – fivefold higher in early-stage diapause compared to their non-diapausing counterparts. Suppression of these genes with RNAi significantly reduced nutrient storage, stress resistance, cold tolerance and survivability of diapausing females which indicates that each of these genes individually play key roles in protecting the mosquitoes during early diapause.

         Wolbachia is an obligate intracellular endosymbiotic α-proteobacteria, infecting anywhere from 40-70% of terrestrial arthropod species. Wolbachia are transmitted vertically from mother to offspring while modifying their hosts phenotypes for enhanced infected reproduction (cytoplasmic incompatibility), and survival (viral interference). Wolbachia, in order to enhance its own survival, decreases host cytoskeletal proteins and lipids in an attempt to decrease or hinder arboviral proliferation. The goal of this research is to take genes of interest to diapause and what has been learned from RNAi knockdown on function and survival, and to Wolbachia and utilize these bacteria as a control mechanism to hinder survival of diapausing Culex pipiens mosquitoes. The results of this research will advance our understanding of Wolbachia/mosquito interactions in the preface of diapause, and how Wolbachia can be used as for control strategies to hinder overwintering survival.

My undergrads main research focus is on clasper rotation in Culex mosquitoes and the effect on temperature and this process. A critical part of the male maturation is the 180-degree rotation of their terminal genitalia. This rotation is crucial for successful copulation as it ensures the male’s claspers are properly positioned to grip onto females. It is generally accepted that this rotation will occur within 24 hours of eclose; however, very little research exists portraying an accurate timeline of rotation in Cx. pipiens. In previous studies, it has been shown that environmental factors like temperature have had some effect on the rate of clasper rotation in male Anopheles funestus mosquitos. The results of this study showed a positive correlation between environmental temperature and clasper rotation speed, suggesting that this positive correlation between clasper rotation speed and environmental temperature may also exist in other mosquito species.