CLIPB9 and PPO are mostly expressed in mosquito hemocytes34,35, which could explain why highly expressed bba-milR1 during fungal penetration of the insect integument did not target and induce expression of CLIPB9. These findings uncover how the fungal pathogen manipulates its host’s defense mechanisms by deploying bba-milR1 in a spatial and temporal manner at different phases of infection (Fig. 6). This evidence concerns the gene PPOX and infection.