Lichtwardt This Americas Program award will fund a cooperative research project between Dr. Robert Lichtwardt, University of Kansas, and Drs. Juan J. Garcia and Claudia Lopez Lastra, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, on a study of infection of mosquitoes and other diptera by gut fungi (Trichomycetes). The Trichomycetes have various and complicated symbiotic relations with insects, including commensalism, mutualism and parasitism. The objective of the project is to understand these relationships.
The collaborators intend to study how the fungi are transmitted from host to host, the persistence and viability of their reproductive units, host ranges and rates of infection, and how they might be manipulated for developing a biological control agent for the insects. Since the insects are known vectors of several important diseases of humans and domesticated animals, this research could have potentially far-reaching practical applications. ***
