Biology subjects

Perdomo, H. D.

Publications and source records attributed to Perdomo, H. D..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Evidence of thermal selection from experimental evolution in the arboviral vector Aedes albopictus

The extent to which phenotypic plasticity and adaptation are coupled during ectotherm thermal evolution is poorly understood. We carried out thermal experimental evolution for 20 generations in the arboviral vector Aedes albopictus, an efficient invasive species that has newly conquered climatically diverse regions in the past few decades. During acclimation (one generation of evolution) we saw accelerated development and increased reproduction that traded off against survival. After only another 10 generations, we saw adaptation in the form of major changes in mosquito fitness, metabolism and gene expression, revealing the consolidation of a temperature-dependent trade-off between reproduction and longevity. These shifts demonstrate that Ae. albopictuscan adapt at the pace of warming. When selection was relaxed, most of the thermally shifted phenotypes reverted to control levels, revealing the importance of plasticity after prolonged evolution. Furthermore, 250 warm evolution-altered genes did not return to control levels. These genes exhibited significant negative correlation between mean and variance in warm-evolved mosquitoes, but a two-fold variance reduction without mean change in relaxed-selection mosquitoes. Both signals are consistent with the action of selection operating on a polygenic trait architecture. Ecological modelling identified egg-to-adult viability as the primary driver of thermal reproductive success, highlighting juvenile stages as a crucial control target under continued warming.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Metabolic homeostasis favors tolerance to persistent viral infection in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

The mosquito Aedes aegypti harbors a wide range of persistent viral infections, including both medically important arboviruses and insect-specific viruses (ISVs). However, the mechanisms underpinning establishment and maintenance of persistent viral infections remain poorly understood despite them influencing viral dynamics and transmission. Differently than arboviruses, which circulate at lower frequencies, ISVs are highly prevalent in field mosquitoes, thus representing ideal models to study the mechanisms of persistence. On this basis, we followed infection of the ISV cell-fusing agent virus (CFAV) in two Ae. aegypti laboratory populations, Liverpool (LVP) and ZacPanda (ZacP), and studied their immune responses, including resistance and tolerance, along with physiological and fitness impacts of CFAV infection. Our results demonstrate that CFAV establishes life-long infections with a comparable activation of resistance mechanisms, in both LVP and ZacP mosquitoes. In contrast, ZacP mosquitoes exhibited greater tolerance to CFAV than LVP accompanied by the ability to maintain metabolic homeostasis during infection. In neither ZacP nor LVP, CFAV resulted in reproductive impairment. These findings highlight a key role for tolerance mechanisms, which through regulation of energetic resources, contribute to sustain persistent viral infections in mosquitoes. Our results have implications for viral transmission dynamics and vector control strategies.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2024

Prolonged thermal stress enhances mosquito tolerance to viral infection

How and to what extent mosquito-virus interaction is influenced by climate change is a complex question of ecological and epidemiological relevance. We worked at the intersection between thermal biology and vector immunology and studied shifts in tolerance and resistance to the cell fusing agent virus (CFAV), a prominent component of the mosquito virome know to contribute to shaping mosquito vector competence, in warm-acclimated and warm-evolved Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. We show that the length of the thermal challenge influences the outcome of the infection with warm-evolved mosquitoes being more tolerant to CFAV infection, while warm-acclimated mosquitoes being more resistant and suffering from extensive fitness costs. These results highlight the importance of considering fluctuations in vector immunity in relation to the length of a thermal challenge to understand natural variation in vector response to viruses and frame realistic transmission models.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2024

Reproductive resource allocation correlates with successful global invasion of a mosquito species

The understanding of traits favoring biological invasions has been considered an essential step to predict which species would become successful invaders. Classical approaches test for differences between invasive vs. not invasive species and emphasize reproduction as a critical phenotype for successful establishment of an invasive species. However, cross-species comparisons underestimate intraspecies differences, which may be relevant in invasive species with highly genetically diverse populations. Here we capitalize on the well-characterized invasion history of the arboviral vector Aedes albopictus, which resulted in genetically-distinct native, old and invasive populations, and compared the reproductive capacity (fertility and fecundity), development (timing of egg development, oviposition patterns and egg hatching) and physiology (blood digestion and nutrient movement during oogenesis) across populations. We observed that invasive mosquitoes optimize their nutrient investment during development and oogenesis, which leads to increased egg production with respect to native and long adapted laboratory mosquitoes. This higher fecundity results from a delay in oogenesis and is accompanied by higher fertility. We further tested inheritance of reproductive traits via reciprocal crosses, which showed a higher fertility and fecundity in hybrids with respect to parental strains and a potential contribution of males to the reproductive success of invasive mosquitoes. Our results provide evidence that resource allocation during development and oogenesis influences the reproductive capacity of Ae. albopictus and manifests in population differences that correlate with their invasion success. Significance StatementIn addition to being an essential process to ensure the survival of a species, reproduction is a key determinant for a species invasion success because it facilitates a species ability to establish in a new area. Reproduction is a complex phenotype that relies on intricate and timely interactions between genetic and physiological factors. Here we combined molecular, biochemical, and genetic approaches to show that efficient allocation of energetic resources during development and oogenesis fosters the reproductive output of Ae. albopictus mosquitoes and manifests as variation in the reproductive capacity of its geographic populations. These results are critical for predicting the invasion success of this species and tailoring effective control strategies.

evolutionary biology↗