Assessing quality of life-shortening Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the field based on capture rates and morphometric assessments

Yeap, Heng Lin; Axford, Jason K.; Popovici, Jean; Endersby, N. M.; Iturbe‐Ormaetxe, Iñaki; Ritchie, Scott A.; Hoffmann, Ary A.

doi:10.1186/1756-3305-7-58

Cited by 68 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…25 The distance between the alular notch and the intersection of the radius 3 vein and outer margin (excluding the fringe scales) provided a measure of wing length. 20 Two independent measurements of each wing were averaged to give the final length. Damaged or folded wings were not measured.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 This is borne out by the difficulty of achieving invasion by this infection in semi-field cages 13,19 and in field releases into relatively isolated areas. 20 On the other hand, invasion by wMel has now been repeatedly achieved, and results in high and stable frequencies. 7 The wAlbB infection has not yet been used for invasion in field releases although it has been shown to invade small laboratory population cages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fitness of wAlbB Wolbachia Infection in Aedes aegypti: Parameter Estimates in an Outcrossed Background and Potential for Population Invasion

Axford¹,

Ross²,

Yeap³

et al. 2016

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

121

165

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Abstract. Wolbachia endosymbionts are potentially useful tools for suppressing disease transmission by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes because Wolbachia can interfere with the transmission of dengue and other viruses as well as causing deleterious effects on their mosquito hosts. Most recent research has focused on the wMel infection, but other infections also influence viral transmission and may spread in natural populations. Here, we focus on the wAlbB infection in an Australian outbred background and show that this infection has many features that facilitate its invasion into natural populations including strong cytoplasmic incompatibility, a lack of effect on larval development, an equivalent mating success to uninfected males and perfect maternal transmission fidelity. On the other hand, the infection has deleterious effects when eggs are held in a dried state, falling between wMel and the more virulent wMelPop Wolbachia strains. The impact of this infection on lifespan also appears to be intermediate, consistent with the observation that this infection has a titer in adults between wMel and wMelPop. Population cage experiments indicate that the wAlbB infection establishes in cages when introduced at a frequency of 22%, suggesting that this strain could be successfully introduced into populations and subsequently persist and spread.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitness of wAlbB Wolbachia Infection in Aedes aegypti: Parameter Estimates in an Outcrossed Background and Potential for Population Invasion

Axford¹,

Ross²,

Yeap³

et al. 2016

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

121

165

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Samples in extraction solution were incubated in a thermal cycler at 56°C for 5 min followed by 95°C for 5min [33] and then cooled on ice until use. DENV genome copies were determined by a 1-step quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) using TaqMan Fast Virus 1-Step Master Mix (ThermoFisher Scientific).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The microbiome composition of Aedes aegypti is not critical for Wolbachia-mediated inhibition of dengue virus

Audsley

McGraw

2017

PLoS Negl Trop Dis

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BackgroundDengue virus (DENV) is primarily vectored by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, and is estimated to cause 390 million human infections annually. A novel method for DENV control involves stable transinfection of Ae. aegypti with the common insect endosymbiont Wolbachia, which mediates an antiviral effect. However, the mechanism by which Wolbachia reduces the susceptibility of Ae. aegypti to DENV is not fully understood. In this study we assessed the potential of resident microbiota, which can play important roles in insect physiology and immune responses, to affect Wolbachia-mediated DENV blocking.Methodology/FindingsThe microbiome of Ae. aegypti stably infected with Wolbachia strain wMel was compared to that of Ae. aegypti without Wolbachia, using 16s rDNA profiling. Our results indicate that although Wolbachia affected the relative abundance of several genera, the microbiome of both the Wolbachia-infected and uninfected mosquitoes was dominated by Elizabethkingia and unclassified Enterobacteriaceae. To assess the potential of the resident microbiota to affect the Wolbachia-mediated antiviral effect, we used antibiotic treatment before infection with DENV by blood-meal. In spite of a significant shift in the microbiome composition in response to the antibiotics, we detected no effect of antibiotic treatment on DENV infection rates, or on the DENV load of infected mosquitoes.Conclusions/SignificanceOur findings indicate that stable infection with Wolbachia strain wMel produces few effects on the microbiome of laboratory-reared Ae. aegypti. Moreover, our findings suggest that the microbiome can be significantly altered without affecting the fundamental DENV blocking phenotype in these mosquitoes. Since Ae. aegypti are likely to encounter diverse microbiota in the field, this is a particularly important result in the context of using Wolbachia as a method for DENV control.

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“…The horizontal axis of the wing was defined as the line joining average positions of the distal end of the radial branch 3 and the notch between the alula and the posterior margin of the wing, excluding the fringe. Centroid size was calculated for horizontal, vertical and total components as the root sum square of Euclidean distances between landmarks and the centroid [64]. Principle component analysis was performed using covariance matrices generated from the superimposed dataset.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-Mating Compatibility and Competitiveness among Aedes albopictus Strains from Distinct Geographic Origins - Implications for Future Application of SIT Programs in the South West Indian Ocean Islands

Damiens

Lebon²,

Wilkinson

et al. 2016

PLoS ONE

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The production of large numbers of males needed for a sustainable sterile insect technique (SIT) control program requires significant developmental and operational costs. This may constitute a significant economic barrier to the installation of large scale rearing facilities in countries that are undergoing a transition from being largely dependent on insecticide use to be in a position to integrate the SIT against Aedes albopictus. Alternative options available for those countries could be to rely on outsourcing of sterile males from a foreign supplier, or for one centralised facility to produce mosquitoes for several countries, thus increasing the efficiency of the mass-rearing effort. However, demonstration of strain compatibility is a prerequisite for the export of mosquitoes for transborder SIT applications. Here, we compared mating compatibility among Ae. albopictus populations originating from three islands of the South Western Indian Ocean, and assessed both insemination rates and egg fertility in all possible cross-mating combinations. Furthermore, competitiveness between irradiated and non-irradiated males from the three studied strains, and the subsequent effect on female fertility were also examined. Although morphometric analysis of wing shapes suggested phenoptypic differences between Ae. albopictus strains, perfect reproductive compatibility between them was observed. Furthermore, irradiated males from the different islands demonstrated similar levels of competitiveness and induced sterility when confronted with fertile males from any of the other island populations tested. In conclusion, despite the evidence of inter-strain differences based on male wing morphology, collectively, our results provide a new set of expectations for the use of a single candidate strain of mass-reared sterile males for area-wide scale application of SIT against Ae. albopictus populations in different islands across the South Western Indian Ocean. Cross-mating competitiveness tests such as those applied here are necessary to assess the quality of mass reared strains for the trans-border application of sterile male release programs.

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Assessing quality of life-shortening Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the field based on capture rates and morphometric assessments

Cited by 68 publications

References 52 publications

Fitness of wAlbB Wolbachia Infection in Aedes aegypti: Parameter Estimates in an Outcrossed Background and Potential for Population Invasion

Fitness of wAlbB Wolbachia Infection in Aedes aegypti: Parameter Estimates in an Outcrossed Background and Potential for Population Invasion

The microbiome composition of Aedes aegypti is not critical for Wolbachia-mediated inhibition of dengue virus

Cross-Mating Compatibility and Competitiveness among Aedes albopictus Strains from Distinct Geographic Origins - Implications for Future Application of SIT Programs in the South West Indian Ocean Islands

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