Table 1 The Five-year (2013–2018) CRP objectives, outputs and achievements (published papers)

(i). Elucidate tsetse-trypanosome interactions and understand determinants of vector competence.

(i). Molecular interplay of tsetse-trypanosomes characterized.

(ii). Factors affecting trypanosome infections in tsetse determined.

(iii). Tsetse vectorial competence assessed via comparative genomics and transcriptomics.

[102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126,127,128,129,130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,138,139,140,146]; ([21, 26, 43, 107, 147])

(ii). Acquire better understanding of the physiology of tsetse-microbiota-pathogen tripartite interactions.

(i). Microbiota of multiple trypanosome-infected and uninfected tsetse species and hybrids determined.

(ii). Trypanosome-microbiota interactions in model tsetse species and hybrids determined.

(iii). Impacts of viral pathology on the tsetse symbionts determined.

[42, 47, 53, 58, 59, 148,149,150,151,152,153,154,155,156,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164,165,166,167,168,169,170,171,172]; ([44, 54, 72, 93, 173, 174])

(iii). Determine effects of radiation in tsetse, its microbiota and pathogens.

(i). Effects of radiation on tsetse vectors, their symbionts and pathogens determined.

(ii). Mutagenic effect of radiation on paratransgenesis determined.

[175]; ([95, 99])

(iv). Analyse SGHV-microbiota interactions in multiple tsetse species.

(i). Functional SGHV genes identified as candidates for developing antiviral mitigation strategy.

(ii). Latency SGHV genes identified as tools for host interacting proteins.

(iii). Mechanisms of SGHV’s escape from host defense response determined.

(iv). SGHV haplotypes and evolution in lab-reared and wild tsetse fly populations determined.

[75, 76, 79, 81, 82, 84, 176, 177]; ([28, 77, 78, 80, 83])

(v). Develop novel symbiont-based, SIT-compatible anti-trypanosomiasis strategies.

(i). Wolbachia-based population suppression and/or replacement strategies assessed.

(ii). Trypanosome-refractory paratransgenic tsetse lines developed.

[94, 108, 178]; ([109])