Emerging viral diseases, such as dengue hemorrhagic fever and West Nile viral encephalitis, pose a significant threat to public health. The proposed project involves a multi-disciplinary and interactive research team to collaborate on the completion of development of a novel method for managing mosquito vectors of viral pathogens of public health significance. As a long-term goal, the proposed project seeks to develop an area-wide management strategy for mosquito vectors that is based on their biology and behavior. The main objective of proposed research to be accomplished by personnel at Tulane University is to characterize and map oviposition behavior in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in the New Orleans area, while monitoring for insecticide susceptibility that might interfere with management strategies. The main objective of proposed research to be accomplished by personnel at North Carolina State University is to identify bacterial species that produce metabolites that mediate the oviposition responses of disease vectors such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. It has been previously established that gravid females use volatile metabolites produced by the bacterial community in mosquito habitats as semiochemical cues to locate containers for egg laying. Our plan is to make collections ofAedes (Stegomyia) mosquitoes and bacteria from mosquito habitats in several localities in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Bacterial species will be identified using molecular techniques. Behavioral bioassays will be conducted to determine which bacterial species or combinations of bacterial species produce attractants or stimulants that are active against gravid mosquitoes. The chemicals produced by these bacterial species will be identified by conventional techniques involving gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The activity of putative oviposition attractants will be verified in behavioral bioassays against laboratory populations of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. The compounds will be tested individually and mixed together to determine if the blended compounds have a synergistic effect on the level of attraction of gravid mosquitoes. Once identified, the optimal mixture of oviposition chemicals will be formulated into a controlled release lure, which will be field-tested to determine if the lure enhances the activity of oviposition traps used for surveillance of populations of these mosquito species. In subsequent field-tests, the lure will be combined with a lethal oviposition trap to demonstrate that area-wide suppression of container-inhabiting mosquitoes can be accomplished.
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