The aim of my thesis is to study the vector competence of Culex mosquitoes and more specifically of insecticide-resistant colonies.
Firstly, I seek to determine the impact of resistance alleles on the vector competence of individuals, i.e. the ability to allow the replication and transmission of pathogens.
The viruses of interest for this work are West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV). Two arboviruses circulating in Europe.
In a second step, I study the influence of insecticide resistance on the fitness of different lineages of USUV and WNV and on the possible selection of variants by resistant individuals.
All this with the aim of assessing the impact of insecticide resistance on the epidemic potential of these viruses and on their evolution.