Lack of Evidence for Natural Wolbachia Infections in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae). 2018

Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
Department of Environmental Sciences, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, CT.

Wolbachia is a genus of endosymbiotic bacteria that infects 66% of all insect species. Its major impact on insects is in reproduction: sterility, production of one sex, and/or parthenogenesis. Another effect was discovered when the disease-transmitting mosquito, Aedes aegypti Linnaeus (Diptera: Culicidae), was infected with Wolbachia isolated from Drosophila: infected female mosquitoes became less capable of transmitting diseases such as dengue fever and chikungunya. This has led to releases of Ae. aegypti carrying Wolbachia in an attempt to control disease. An open question is whether there are natural Wolbachia infections of this mosquito. We assayed DNA from 2,663 Ae. aegypti from 27 countries on six continents, 230 from laboratory strains, and 72 Aedes mascarensis MacGregor (Diptera: Culicidae) for presence of Wolbachia DNA. Within the limits of our polymerase chain reaction-based assay, we found no evidence of Wolbachia, suggesting that natural infections of this endosymbiont are unlikely to occur throughout the worldwide distribution of Ae. aegypti.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D000330 Aedes A genus of mosquitoes (CULICIDAE) frequently found in tropical and subtropical regions. YELLOW FEVER and DENGUE are two of the diseases that can be transmitted by species of this genus. Aede
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D020577 Wolbachia A genus of bacteria which comprises a heterogenous group of gram-negative small rods and coccoid forms associated with arthropods. (From Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, vol 1, 1984)

Related Publications

Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
June 2019, Journal of medical entomology,
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
September 2020, Journal of medical entomology,
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
November 2001, Journal of medical entomology,
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
March 2019, FEMS microbiology letters,
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
January 2016, PloS one,
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
January 2008, Micron (Oxford, England : 1993),
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
July 2016, Journal of medical entomology,
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
December 2015, Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases,
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
July 2015, Journal of medical entomology,
Andrea Gloria-Soria, and Tommaso G Chiodo, and Jeffrey R Powell
October 2016, Pest management science,
Copied contents to your clipboard!