Student Competition I
Student Competition I
Wolbachia can phenotypically manipulate its mosquito hosts in ways that influence vector competence. Field collected Culex restuans and Cx. pipiens complex collected from two Illinois and one Wisconsin locations were used to characterize the prevalence of Wolbachia in natural populations. The integration of host species and genotype with Wolbachia strain identity and prevalence across genomes will inform current models of West Nile virus in these endemic hosts.