Microbial modulation of insect sensory plasticity - program summary insects remain among the most urgent threats to agriculture and public health, transmitting deadly vector-borne diseases and…

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded Rutgers, The State University $383,511 on August 1, 2026, as a Project Grant (CFDA 93.859, Biomedical Research and Research Training) to investigate microbial modulation of insect sensory plasticity.

The research establishes a framework for understanding how microbes and microbial products regulate insect sensory plasticity and how these interactions are influenced by environmental context and microbial metabolites. The work integrates three complementary themes: dissecting microbial regulation of insect chemosensory pathways in Drosophila and mosquito vectors; investigating environmental drivers of insect-microbe interactions, including how climate, pollution, and habitat diversity shape microbial communities in sensory organs and influence host-seeking behavior; and exploring fungal metabolites as novel modulators of insect behavior, identifying bioactive compounds that act directly on chemosensory circuits and testing their potential as alternatives to chemical insecticides. The program deploys an integrative toolkit spanning axenic insect models, gnotobiotic reintroductions, metagenomics, and spatial transcriptomics.

Performance runs from August 1, 2026, through April 30, 2031, with work performed in Piscataway, New Jersey. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences supports basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

Microbial modulation of insect sensory plasticity - program summary insects remain among the most urgent threats to agriculture and public health, transmitting deadly vector-borne diseases and inflicting billions of dollars in crop losses each year. Traditional control strategies, including chemical insecticides, face declining efficacy due to widespread resistance, ecological disruption, and non-target effects. Addressing this challenge requires innovative approaches rooted in fundamental biology. Increasing evidence suggests that insect-associated microbes profoundly shape sensory systems that underlie feeding, mating, oviposition, and host-seeking behaviors. Yet the molecular, ecological, and translational dimensions of these interactions remain largely undefined. This research program will establish a comprehensive framework for understanding how microbes and microbial products regulate insect sensory plasticity, and how these interactions are influenced by environmental context and microbial metabolites. Our studies integrate three complementary themes. First, we will dissect microbial regulation of insect chemosensory pathways, defining how symbiotic and transient microbes modulate receptor expression and sensory-driven behaviors across drosophila and mosquito vectors. Second, we will investigate environmental drivers of insect-microbe interactions, mapping how ecological variables such as climate, pollution, and habitat diversity shape microbial communities in sensory organs and, in turn, influence chemosensory gene expression and host-seeking. Third, we will explore fungal metabolites as novel modulators of insect behavior, identifying bioactive compounds that act directly on chemosensory circuits and testing their potential as stable, sustainable, microbe-derived alternatives to chemical insecticides. Across these themes, we will deploy an integrative toolkit spanning axenic insect models, gnotobiotic reintroductions, metagenomics, spatial transcriptomics, metabolomics, and behavioral assays, enabling US to move beyond correlative microbiome surveys toward mechanistic and translational discovery. This program is innovative in its expansion of microbiome research beyond the GUT to sensory organs, its integration of ecological and molecular perspectives, and its introduction of fungal metabolites as a previously untapped class of bioactive regulators. The discoveries will yield fundamental insight into interkingdom communication, reveal conserved host pathways linking microbial signals to behavior, and establish an ecological-molecular framework for predicting how environmental change influences vectorial capacity. Ultimately, this research will lay the foundation for microbe-based control strategies that are sustainable, targeted, and adaptable to diverse ecological settings, advancing both fundamental understanding of sensory biology and translational avenues for mitigating the global burden of insect-vectored disease.