Stable establishment of wMel Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti populations in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

The successful establishment of the wMel strain of Wolbachia for the control of arbovirus transmission by Aedes aegypti has been proposed and is being implemented in a number of countries. Here we describe the successful establishment of the wMel strain of Wolbachia in four sites in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. We demonstrate that Wolbachia can be successfully introgressed after transient releases of wMel-infected eggs or adult mosquitoes. We demonstrate that the approach is acceptable to communities and that Wolbachia maintains itself in the mosquito population once deployed. Finally, our data show that spreading rates of Wolbachia in the Indonesian setting are slow which may reflect more limited dispersal of Aedes aegypti than seen in other sites such as Cairns, Australia.

Fig 1

Ovitrap monitoring of Wolbachia frequency in Nogotirto (A, B, C, D, E, F) highlighting the slow spatial spread of wMel Wolbachia into the exclusion area where releases were not undertaken and Kronggahan (G, H, I, J, K). Pie graphs show location of where ovitraps were set and the amount of blue shading indicates frequency at each trap from a maximum sample of 10 individuals. Maps supplied by Indonesian Geospatial Information Agency and processed with ArcGIS.

Fig 2. wMel establishment in each of the four sites.

Nogotirto and Kronggahan were used as adult release sites and Jomblangan and Singosaren were used as egg release sites. Each panel shows background Ae. aegypti population as measured by BGS trap sampling. Blue shading indicates the period of mosquito release and the blue line shows the wMel frequency obtained from mosquitoes sampled in BGS traps.

Fig 3

Ovitrap monitoring of Wolbachia frequency in Jomblangan (A, B, C, D) and Singosaren (E, F, G, H). Pie graphs show location of where ovitraps were set and the amount of blue shading indicates frequency at each trap from a maximum sample of 10 individuals.