Wolbachia prevalence, diversity, and ability to induce cytoplasmic incompatibility in mosquitoes

Abstract

To protect humans and domestic animals from mosquito borne diseases, alternative methods to chemical insecticides have to be found. Pilot studies using the vertically transmitted bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia were already launched in different parts of the world. Wolbachia can be used either in Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT), to decrease mosquito population, or to decrease the ability of mosquitoes to transmit pathogens. Not all mosquito species are naturally infected with Wolbachia: while in Culex pipiens and Aedes albopictus almost all individuals harbor Wolbachia, putative infections have to be further investigated in Anopheles species and in Aedes aegypti. All Wolbachia-based control methods rely on the ability of Wolbachia to induce cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) resulting in embryonic death in incompatible crossings. Knowledge on CI diversity in mosquito is required to find the better Wolbachia-mosquito associations to optimize the success of both 'sterile insect' and 'pathogen blocking' Wolbachia-based methods.