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LaCrosse virus modifies the behavior of its mosquito vector.
B. J. BEATY (1). (1) Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, U.S.A.

<i>LaCrosse virus</i> (LACV) infection modifies the mating behavior of <i>Aedes triseriatus</i> mosquitoes and conditions transovarial transmission efficiency of the virus in nature. Mosquitoes infected orally with LACV are more efficiently mated than non-infected females. Infected females exhibited significantly greater insemination rates than non-infected females. Similarly, both field collected and laboratory-colonized transovarially-infected females mated more efficiently than uninfected females, conferring a fitness advantage for LACV-infected progeny. LACV is maintained in nature by stabilized infection in superinfected (SI+) mosquitoes, which efficiently transovarially transmit (TOT) LACV. Efficient TOT is conditioned by LACV perturbation of the <i>Aedes triseriatus</i> innate immune response in ovarian follicles, resulting in increased TOT-infected mosquitoes that mate more efficiently to maintain the SI+ phenotype in nature. The LACV - <i>Aedes triseriatus</i> relationship is truly remarkable.<p><p>Keywords:

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