Jacqueline Wahura: experience at the Royal Entomological Society Conference 2024
The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open-source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Jacqueline Wahura Waweru, a PhD researcher at the University of Cape Town and International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology, was awarded an OBF Event Fellowship to attend the annual Royal Entomological Society Conference (Ento24).
I was privileged to virtually attend the annual Royal Entomological Society conference Ento24 (Ento24: In-person – Royal Entomological Society), which took place on 10th to 12th September at the University of Liverpool, UK. The theme of the conference was insect science. Diverse speakers spanning various sub-themes, including pest and natural enemies, host microbiome interactions, genetics and genomics, vector surveillance and control, among others were present. This being the first broad range insect conference that I have ever attended, the diversity in the range of sub-themes covered at the conference made me fully appreciate the diversity in research and interests in the various insect species being presented. Each speaker was eligible to give a 15-minute presentation on their work.
The conference started with a keynote talk on Conservation Biology by Prof Michael Samways from Stellenbosch University, who is the author of the recently published “Conservation of Dragonflies”. This talk was very insightful in highlighting the challenges in protecting species from extinction. In addition, he highlighted some of the drivers of insect species extinction and the challenge that has on the ecosystem. With the threat that climate change presents, and the effect of human activities on the ecosystem, insect species must be protected to protect biodiversity and the gains that come with having insects in the environment, such as offering pollination services to plants used for human food.
During the pests and natural enemies session, I was excited to hear a diverse range of strategies being employed to control pests and natural enemies including the use of insect endosymbionts. It was exciting to hear of symbiosis research in insects like aphids, given that symbiosis is a theme on which my current research focuses, albeit in a different insect model, the mosquito. In addition, there were talks on controlling the Fall armyworm insect, which is a major pest in maize, through intercropping and push pull technology.
It was during the host microbiome interaction session that I was privileged to do my presentation titled “An influential insider: Microsporidia MB influences the gut microbiota composition in Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes” (RES_annual_conference_JWahura). Microsporidia MB is an insect endosymbiont in Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes that was shown to impair the transmission of Plasmodium falciparum. In my talk, I highlighted my key findings that Microsporidia MB influenced the gut microbiota in infected mosquitoes to favor microbes with the Plasmodium transmission blocking phenotype. I outlined the steps followed in my methods and provided a GitHub link to the audience detailing the steps I followed in analyzing the gut microbiota data. It was interesting to see how my research, which is still in its infancy, stirred interest in the audience, and I received feedback on considerations I ought to take in my analysis pipeline as well as research gaps to consider filling.
Other interesting talks during the host microbiome interaction session included those of the effect of different environmental variables on the gut microbiota of mosquitoes, the effect of endosymbionts in aphids on the host microbiome and the protective effect of microbiomes in insects such as ants on fruits such as apples.
The second day of the conference started with a keynote talk on tsetse fly ecology and control by Prof Steve Torr from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. During this talk, we were brought to speed on the history of the tsetse fly and the burden of the disease associated with it. In addition, he highlighted all the control strategies that have been developed to reduce the burden associated with the disease and the outlook of gaps to be addressed in the future.
The genetics and genomics session was highly exciting to me as it aligns with my interests in bioinformatics. Various interesting talks on topics such as reproductive manipulation of insects for massive field releases, understanding the genetic drivers of polyphagy in plant pests and talks on genome assemblies formed the basis of this session. The range of talks during this session provided insight into the breadth of genomics research and the scale of adoption of open science practices in insect science. Additionally, there was a strong highlight on the application of insect endosymbionts such as Wolbachia in managing key vectors, including Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti, during the vector surveillance session.
The last keynote talk on the last day was on “Co-evolution in social parasites and their hosts” by Prof Suzanne Foltzik from Johannes Gutenberg, University of Mainz. She did an excellent talk spanning genomics, microbiomes and proteomics and showcased the progress they have made in understanding the co-evolution of parasites and their host ants and bees.
This conference was one of a kind to me in helping me gain a broad perspective on insects and the dynamic range of ongoing research on various insect models. I was also able to gain new insights on alternative niches I could explore in my work by attending this conference. Although I was attending the conference virtually, I managed to get the emails of some attendees with whom I was interested in having follow up discussions on potential avenues of collaboration. It was also exciting to see how different scientists and students are embracing open science globally and also how they are contributing to developing open-source tools.
I am sincerely thankful to the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) for supporting my attendance at the Royal Entomological Society’s Ento24 conference and for allowing me to contribute to open science by sharing my approaches to malaria transmission blocking using insect endosymbionts.