Molecular typing and phylogeny of Wolbachia: A study from Assam, North-Eastern part of India

Soni, Monika; Bhattacharya, Chandrakanta; Sharma, Jitendra; Khan, Siraj Ahmed; Dutta, Prafulla

doi:10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.09.005

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The data on natural Wolbachia infections in A. gambiae , together with similar reports suggesting Wolbachia infections in species previously considered uninfected, e.g., A. stephensi (47), Anopheles funestus (48), and A. aegypti (see references 47, 49, and 50 but also 51 and 52), should be carefully examined, as all have aquatic, detritus-feeding, and predatory larvae, while adults are terrestrial and can feed on nectar. Thus, bacteria and/or contaminating sequences may spread between these and other organisms sharing the same niches, necessitating studies designed to discern candidates for symbiotic taxa from transient and contaminating bacteria.…”

Section: Origin Of Wolbachia Sequences In Anopheles Gambiaesupporting

confidence: 83%

Is Anopheles gambiae a Natural Host ofWolbachia?

Chrostek

Gerth

2019

mBio

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Wolbachia (Alphaproteobacteria, Rickettsiales) is an intraovarially transmitted symbiont of insects able to exert striking phenotypes, including reproductive manipulations and pathogen blocking. These phenotypes make Wolbachia a promising tool to combat mosquito-borne diseases. Although Wolbachia is present in the majority of terrestrial arthropods, including many disease vectors, it was considered absent from Anopheles gambiae mosquitos, the main vectors of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2014, Wolbachia sequences were detected in A. gambiae samples collected in Burkina Faso. Subsequently, similar evidence came from collections all over Africa, revealing a high Wolbachia 16S rRNA sequence diversity, low abundance, and a lack of congruence between host and symbiont phylogenies. Here, we reanalyze and discuss recent evidence on the presence of Wolbachia sequences in A. gambiae. We find that although detected at increasing frequencies, the unusual properties of these Wolbachia sequences render them insufficient to diagnose natural infections in A. gambiae. Future studies should focus on uncovering the origin of Wolbachia sequence variants in Anopheles and seeking sequence-independent evidence for this new symbiosis. Understanding the ecology of Anopheles mosquitos and their interactions with Wolbachia will be key in designing successful, integrative approaches to limit malaria spread. Although the prospect of using Wolbachia to fight malaria is intriguing, the newly discovered strains do not bring it closer to realization. IMPORTANCE Anopheles gambiae mosquitos are the main vectors of malaria, threatening around half of the world’s population. The bacterial symbiont Wolbachia can interfere with disease transmission by other important insect vectors, but until recently, it was thought to be absent from natural A. gambiae populations. Here, we critically analyze the genomic, metagenomic, PCR, imaging, and phenotypic data presented in support of the presence of natural Wolbachia infections in A. gambiae. We find that they are insufficient to diagnose Wolbachia infections and argue for the need of obtaining robust data confirming basic Wolbachia characteristics in this system. Determining the Wolbachia infection status of Anopheles is critical due to its potential to influence Anopheles population structure and Plasmodium transmission.

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Section: Origin Of Wolbachia Sequences In Anopheles Gambiaesupporting

confidence: 83%

Is Anopheles gambiae a Natural Host ofWolbachia?

Chrostek

Gerth

2019

mBio

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“…The data on natural Wolbachia infections in A. gambiae , together with similar reports suggesting Wolbachia infections in species previously considered uninfected, e.g. A. stephensi (47), A. funestus (48) and A. aegypti ((47, 49, 50) but also (51, 52)), should be carefully examined, as all have aquatic, detritus-feeding and predatory larvae, while adults are terrestrial and can feed on nectar. Thus, bacteria and/or contaminating sequences could spread between these and other organisms sharing the same niches, necessitating studies designed to discern candidates for symbiotic taxa from transient and contaminating bacteria.…”

Section: Origin Of Wolbachia Sequences In Anopheles Gambiaementioning

confidence: 97%

Is Anopheles gambiae a natural host of Wolbachia?

Chrostek

Gerth

2018

Preprint

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8Wolbachia (Alphaproteobacteria, Rickettsiales) is an intraovarially-transmitted symbiont of 9 insects able to exert striking phenotypes, including reproductive manipulations and pathogen 10 blocking. These phenotypes make Wolbachia a promising tool to combat mosquito-borne diseases. 11Although Wolbachia is present in the majority of terrestrial arthropods, including many disease 12 vectors, it was considered absent from Anopheles gambiae mosquitos, the main vectors of malaria 13 in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2014, Wolbachia sequences were detected in A. gambiae samples 14 collected in Burkina Faso. Subsequently, similar evidence came from collections all over Africa, 15 revealing a high Wolbachia 16S sequence diversity, low abundance, and a lack of congruence 16 between host and symbiont phylogenies. Here, we reanalyze and discuss recent evidence on the 17 presence of Wolbachia sequences in A. gambiae. We find that although detected at increasing 18 frequencies, the unusual properties of these Wolbachia sequences render them insufficient to 19 diagnose natural infections in A. gambiae. Future studies should focus on uncovering the origin of 20 Wolbachia sequence variants in Anopheles and seeking sequence-independent evidence for this 21 new symbiosis. Understanding the ecology of Anopheles mosquitos and their interactions with 22Wolbachia will be key in designing successful, integrative approaches to limit malaria spread. 23 2Although the prospect of using Wolbachia to fight malaria is intriguing, the newly discovered 24 strains do not bring it closer to realization. 25 26 Significance 27 Anopheles gambiae mosquitos are the main vectors of malaria, threatening around half of the 28 world's population. The bacterial symbiont Wolbachia can interfere with disease transmission by 29 other important insect vectors, but until recently it was thought to be absent from natural A. 30 gambiae populations. Here, we critically analyze the genomic, metagenomic, PCR, imaging and 31 phenotypic data presented in support of the presence of natural Wolbachia infections in A.32gambiae. We find that they are insufficient to diagnose Wolbachia infections and argue for the 33 need of obtaining robust data confirming basic Wolbachia characteristics in this system. 34Determining Wolbachia infection status of Anopheles is critical due to its potential to influence 35 Anopheles population structure and Plasmodium transmission. 36 37 42 manipulations, where maternally inherited symbionts favor survival and reproduction of 43 transmitting females over non-infected females and non-transmitting males (2). One of the 44 reproductive manipulations, cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) (3), has been proposed as a tool to 45 suppress mosquito populations and decrease arbovirus burden on humans (4, 5). Bidirectional CI 46 -the inability of females to produce offspring with males harboring a different Wolbachia strain -47 3 has been successful in eliminating the filariasis vector, Culex pipiens fatigans from Okpo, 48 Myanmar in 1967 (5), and suppres...

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“…Since most studies thus far reported an absence of Wolbachia in the wild-type Ae . aegypti [ 9 , 17 , 41 , 43 – 44 ], it can be assumed that the Wolbachia in Ae . aegypti detected in the field surveillance and monitoring study is likely from the release programs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simple, sensitive, and cost-effective detection of wAlbB Wolbachia in Aedes mosquitoes, using loop mediated isothermal amplification combined with the electrochemical biosensing method

et al. 2022

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Background Wolbachia is an endosymbiont bacterium generally found in about 40% of insects, including mosquitoes, but it is absent in Aedes aegypti which is an important vector of several arboviral diseasesdengue, chikungunya, zika, and yellow fever. The evidence that Wolbachia trans-infected Ae. aegypti mosquitoes lost their vectorial competence and became less capable of transmitting arboviruses to human hosts highlights the potential of using Wolbachia-based approaches for prevention and control of arboviral diseases. Recently, release of Wolbachia trans-infected Ae. aegypti has been deployed widely in many countries for the control of mosquito-borne viral diseases. Field surveillance and monitoring of Wolbachia presence in released mosquitoes is important for the success of these control programs. So far, a number of studies have reported the development of loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays to detect Wolbachia in mosquitoes, but the methods still have some specificity and cost issues. Methodology/Principal findings We describe here the development of a LAMP assay combined with the DNA strand displacement-based electrochemical sensor (BIOSENSOR) method to detect wAlbB Wolbachia in trans-infected Ae. aegypti. Our developed LAMP primers used a low-cost dye detecting system and 4 oligo nucleotide primers which can reduce the cost of analysis while the specificity is comparable to the previous methods. The detection capacity of our LAMP technique was 1.4 nM and the detection limit reduced to 2.2 fM when combined with the BIOSENSOR. Our study demonstrates that a BIOSENSOR can also be applied as a stand-alone method for detecting Wolbachia; and it showed high sensitivity when used with the crude DNA extracts of macerated mosquito samples without DNA purification. Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest that both LAMP and BIOSENSOR, either used in combination or stand-alone, are robust and sensitive. The methods have good potential for routine detection of Wolbachia in mosquitoes during field surveillance and monitoring of Wolbachia-based release programs, especially in countries with limited resources.

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Molecular typing and phylogeny of Wolbachia: A study from Assam, North-Eastern part of India

Cited by 16 publications

References 35 publications

Is Anopheles gambiae a Natural Host ofWolbachia?

Is Anopheles gambiae a Natural Host ofWolbachia?

Is Anopheles gambiae a natural host of Wolbachia?

Simple, sensitive, and cost-effective detection of wAlbB Wolbachia in Aedes mosquitoes, using loop mediated isothermal amplification combined with the electrochemical biosensing method

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