Learning from the Enemy: Innate RNA Interference Renders Mosquitos Asymptomatic to Arboviral Infection and Provides Researchers with New Approaches to Subdue its Effects

Peyton W Robertson

Abstract

This paper examines arboviral infection with the goal of characterizing the innate immune response of human disease vectors such as mosquitoes. RNA interference and conserved innate immunity pathways allow mosquitoes to resist symptoms as they carry arboviruses. RISCs, piRNA, and p-bodies are of special interest not only due to their conservation across phyla but also due to the specificity with which they can be used to characterize an infection. For each of these interference mechanisms, I will discuss: 1) the essential molecules conserved, 2) how these molecules act to tolerate or resist pathogens, and 3) the positive feedback mechanisms which amplify the immune response. Understanding developments in the field of RNA interference would allow arboviral infection to be more easily recognized, distinguished, targeted, and treated at the molecular level in-field and at a lower cost.