Vibrio cholerae symbiosis with an aquatic insect host












Vibrio cholerae is a globally distributed aquatic bacterium that causes endemic cholera in over 55 countries, with an estimated 1.3 to 4 million infection cases annually. In aquatic habitats, V. cholerae has been shown to be associated with a variety of arthropod hosts. We are currently using the chironomid as an experimental host systems to better understand how V. cholerae-aquatic arthropod symbiosis functions at the molecular level.