Assistant Professor Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana
Many microbial symbionts are indispensable for insect physiology and therefore of particular interest for improving disease control strategies that reduce insect vector competence. It is hypothesized that bacterial symbionts harbored within insect vectors play a role in the spread of plant viruses. However, scientists have struggled to identify and utilize the properties of vector microbial communities that could provide protection against the spread of plant pathogens. To address current challenges we employ a novel approach – modeling aphid vectors and their microbial communities - to understand the ecological processes governing insect-virus interactions and identify microbial targets that can be exploited for microbiome based disease management. Specifically, our aim is to investigate the extent to which the aphid microbiome influences transmission of Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), a globally destructive pathogen of cereal crops. First, we developed spatio-temporal models that incorporate environmental covariates (e.g. weather variable, landcover) to predict aphid vector distribution and probability an individual is viruliferous (+BYDV). Second, we used metabarcoding to characterize vector microbiomes and identify changes in microbial communities that are positively or negatively associated with BYDV infection. Finally, we have begun to develop spatio-temporal models for individual vector symbionts to identify the extent to which environmental factors drive changes in microbial communities that then influence virus acquisition. This work addresses major gaps in our understanding of aphid microbiome-BYDV interactions and lays the foundation for developing a broader modeling framework for predicting disease dynamics in agroecosystems and deploying microbiome-targeted pest management tactics.
