Exploiting the Poultry Red Mite chemosensation for improvement of its control with entomopathogenic fungi

The Poultry Red Mite is considered the number one arthropod enemy of the poultry industry; despite this, this pest is hardly studied in terms of alternative control. The enormous economic loss they caused worldwide and the inefficacy of its control urge for solid solutions. One of the reasons why Dermanyssus gallinae is so challenging to manage is its hiding nature. Indeed, no treatment can reach them efficiently in their hiding spots. The idea of this project is to study the chemical ecology of the mite to attract it out of its hideouts. Le Studium Foundation has been instrumental in bringing together Prof Patricia Golo, an entomopathogenic-fungi specialist, and Dr. Fotini Koutroumpa, a specialist on arthropod chemosensation. Here, we would like to report preliminary results for optimizing the mite olfactory behavior tests in the laboratory and the first attempt to study one chemosensory gene expression of the mite. Comparison of these assays between fungus-treated and untreated mites was the goal of the project to understand if the entomopathogenic fungi could change the mite chemosensation and, therefore, negatively impact the fungus treatment. Further, we aimed to understand if a generally considered attractive molecule could enhance mite control with the fungus by masking the fungus's eventually repulsive molecules or/and attracting the mite to the fungus source. This collaboration set the base for further exchange to attend to these goals.