Engineering Aedes aegypti to overexpress immune signaling protein Vago

Aedes aegypti is a vector of several human pathogens including Dengue virus, Zika virus, and Chikungunya virus, and causes major health and economic burdens in developing countries.
The absence of effective vaccines and antiviral treatment against vector-borne diseases has led to a need for the development of new control strategies. A better understanding of the virus-vector interactions may help design novel and efficient vector control strategies.
Aedes mosquitoes mount an immune response against invading pathogens via four major immune pathways; namely the JAK-STAT, RNAi, IMD, and Toll pathway. Studies have shown the existence of crosstalk between these pathways. The Vago gene, encoding for a cysteine-rich 18Kd polypeptide, is believed to possess cytokine-like function. Studies carried out in Culex quinquefasciatus showed that Vago is involved in crosstalk between the JAK-STAT, RNAi, and IMD pathway in response to West Nile Virus infection. An in-depth study into the Aedes orthologue of Vago and its potential to connect multiple immune pathways has not yet been conducted and its exact mechanism is still not known.
Here we present our approach to create a transgenic Aedes line that overexpresses Vago in the midgut, using the PiggyBac transposon system. We aim to study the interactions between immune pathways, the functional role of Vago, and its proposed antiviral activity. Successful blocking of the virus by these transgenic mosquitoes could lay the foundation for the development of population replacement programs to replace susceptible wild type populations and prevent future outbreaks.