Investigating impact of insecticide resistance and immune system on Plasmodium falciparum development in the major malaria vector Anopheles funestus in Cameroon (360G-Wellcome-102543_Z_13_Z)

Resistances to anti-malarial drugs and to insecticides are presently disrupting malaria control in Africa. Therefore, novel control strategies are needed. One of these is the replacement of vector populations by non-vector ones to disrupt parasite transmission by taking advantage of observed natural refractoriness to infection in mosquitoes. This requires a good understanding of the factors impacting vectorial competence in natural populations of Anopheles and of the complex interactions between the mosquito vector and the Plasmodium parasite. If progress has been made to elucidate these interactions in An. gambiae, nothing is still known for the other major vector An. funestus. Besides, the impact of insecticide resistance on Plasmodium development in Anopheles vectors has not yet been thoroughly assessed. The present project aims to fill these important gaps in our knowledge taking advantage of progress recently achievedin the genetics, genomics and rearing of An. funestus. I plan in this project to: - Aim 1. Assess the impact of insecticide resistance on the development of P. falciparum in An. funestus, - Aim 2. Assess the molecular basis of immune response to P. falciparum infection in An. funestus - Aim 3. Study the population genetic of P. falciparum resistance genes in An.funestus.