How do viruses persist and interact in mosquito cells?

Both insect-specific viruses (ISVs) and arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) can persist and sometimes coexist—in mosquito cells. While arboviruses are transmitted to vertebrates, ISVs remain restricted to insects. This fundamental difference raises key questions: Does their divergence lie in how they interact with the mosquito immune system? ISVs have been shown to interfere with or even facilitate arbovirus infections, but the mechanisms behind these interactions remain unclear. Understanding these processes could shed light on virus persistence, competition, and transmission within mosquito hosts.

To better understand virus–virus and virus–host dynamics at the cellular level, my research focuses on:

• How ISVs and arboviruses establish long-term infections and persist in mosquito cells, and how immune responses regulate their maintenance
• How virus–virus interactions unfold during co-infection, and how immune pathways modulate interference or facilitation between ISVs and arboviruses.
• How antiviral responses operate during co-infection, focusing on how mosquito immunity modulates the interaction between ISVs and arboviruses, potentially altering replication dynamics and outcomes.