The wMel Wolbachia strain blocks dengue and invades caged Aedes aegypti populations

Walker, Thomas; Johnson, Petrina H.; Moreira, Luciano Andrade; Iturbe‐Ormaetxe, Iñaki; Frentiu, Francesca D.; McMeniman, Conor J.; Leong, Yi San; Dong, Yi; Axford, Jason K.; Kriesner, Peter; Lloyd, Alun L.; Ritchie, Scott; O'Neill, Scott Leslie; Hoffmann, Ary A.

doi:10.1038/nature10355

Cited by 1,201 publications

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“…These findings were unexpected given that Wolbachia has been extensively shown to inhibit flaviviruses of medical importance in Ae. aegypti (Bian et al., 2010; van den Hurk et al., 2012; Moreira et al., 2009; Walker et al., 2011). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…aegypti where they form stably inherited infections. These are w MelPop‐CLA and w Mel from Drosophila (McMeniman et al., 2009; Walker et al., 2011), w AlbB from Ae. albopictus (Xi, Dean, Khoo, & Dobson, 2005), and w Mel w AlbB (Joubert et al., 2016) that is a superinfection of w Mel and w AlbB.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…albopictus (Xi, Dean, Khoo, & Dobson, 2005), and w Mel w AlbB (Joubert et al., 2016) that is a superinfection of w Mel and w AlbB. Wolbachia ‐mediated pathogen blocking has now been observed for arboviruses such as WNV (Glaser & Meola, 2010), YFV (van den Hurk et al., 2012), DENV (Bian et al., 2010; Frentiu, Robinson, Young, McGraw, & O'Neill, 2010; Moreira et al., 2009; Walker et al., 2011), ZIKV (Aliota, Peinado, Velez, & Osorio, 2016; Dutra et al., 2016), and Chikungunya virus (van den Hurk et al., 2012; Moreira et al., 2009). Wolbachia is currently being released into populations of Ae.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wolbachia infections in Ae. aegypti differ significantly from those found in D. melanogaster however, exhibiting higher symbiont loads (McGraw, Merritt, Droller, & O'Neill, 2002; McMeniman et al., 2009; Moreira et al., 2009; Walker et al., 2011), broader tissue distributions (Moreira et al., 2009; Walker et al., 2011), greater activation of the immune response (McGraw et al., 2002; McMeniman et al., 2009; Moreira et al., 2009; Walker et al., 2011), and greater fitness costs (McMeniman, Hughes, & O'Neill, 2011; Min & Benzer, 1997). These discrepancies may result from different periods of association/evolutionary history, long (~5,000 years) in the case of D. melanogaster (Richardson et al., 2012) and short (<10 years) in the case of the newly infected Ae.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These discrepancies may result from different periods of association/evolutionary history, long (~5,000 years) in the case of D. melanogaster (Richardson et al., 2012) and short (<10 years) in the case of the newly infected Ae. aegypti (Walker et al., 2011). Understanding the fitness consequences of Wolbachia for Ae.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wolbachia enhances insect‐specific flavivirus infection in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Amuzu

Tsyganov

Koh

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Mosquitoes transmit a diverse group of human flaviviruses including West Nile, dengue, yellow fever, and Zika viruses. Mosquitoes are also naturally infected with insect‐specific flaviviruses (ISFs), a subgroup of the family not capable of infecting vertebrates. Although ISFs are not medically important, they are capable of altering the mosquito's susceptibility to flaviviruses and may alter host fitness. Wolbachia is an endosymbiotic bacterium of insects that when present in mosquitoes limits the replication of co‐infecting pathogens, including flaviviruses. Artificially created Wolbachia‐infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are being released into the wild in a series of trials around the globe with the hope of interrupting dengue and Zika virus transmission from mosquitoes to humans. Our work investigated the effect of Wolbachia on ISF infection in wild‐caught Ae. aegypti mosquitoes from field release zones. All field mosquitoes were screened for the presence of ISFs using general degenerate flavivirus primers and their PCR amplicons sequenced. ISFs were found to be common and widely distributed in Ae. aegypti populations. Field mosquitoes consistently had higher ISF infection rates and viral loads compared to laboratory colony material indicating that environmental conditions may modulate ISF infection in Ae. aegypti. Surprisingly, higher ISF infection rates and loads were found in Wolbachia‐infected mosquitoes compared to the Wolbachia‐free mosquitoes. Our findings demonstrate that the symbiont is capable of manipulating the mosquito virome and that Wolbachia‐mediated viral inhibition is not universal for flaviviruses. This may have implications for the Wolbachia‐based DENV control strategy if ISFs confer fitness effects or alter mosquito susceptibility to other flaviviruses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wolbachia enhances insect‐specific flavivirus infection in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Amuzu

Tsyganov

Koh

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Wolbachia -carrying Aedes mosquitoes for preventing dengue infection

Fox

Sguassero

Richardson

et al. 2023

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

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Wolbachia-carrying Aedes mosquitoes for preventing dengue infection

Fox,

Sguassero,

Chaplin

et al. 2024

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

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Background Dengue is a global health problem of high significance, with 3.9 billion people at risk of infection. The geographic expansion of dengue virus (DENV) infection has resulted in increased frequency and severity of the disease, and the number of deaths has increased in recent years. Wolbachia , an intracellular bacterial endosymbiont, has been under investigation for several years as a novel dengue‐control strategy. Some dengue vectors ( Aedes mosquitoes) can be transinfected with specific strains of Wolbachia, which decreases their fitness (ability to survive and mate) and their ability to reproduce, inhibiting the replication of dengue. Both laboratory and field studies have demonstrated the potential effect of Wolbachia deployments on reducing dengue transmission, and modelling studies have suggested that this may be a self‐sustaining strategy for dengue prevention, although long‐term effects are yet to be elucidated. Objectives To assess the efficacy of Wolbachia ‐carrying Aedes species deployments (specifically w Mel ‐ , w MelPop ‐ , and w AlbB‐ strains of Wolbachia ) for preventing dengue virus infection. Search methods We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, four other databases, and two trial registries up to 24 January 2024. Selection criteria Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), including cluster‐randomized controlled trials (cRCTs), conducted in dengue endemic or epidemic‐prone settings were eligible. We sought studies that investigated the impact of Wolbachia‐ carrying Aedes deployments on epidemiological or entomological dengue‐related outcomes, utilizing either the population replacement or population suppression strategy. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently selected eligible studies, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool. We used odds ratios (OR) with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) as the effect measure for dichotomous outcomes. For count/rate outcomes, we planned to use the rate ratio with 95% CI as the effect measure. We used adjusted measures of effect for cRCTs. We assessed the certainty of evidence using GRADE. Main results One completed cRCT met our inclusion criteria, and we identified two further ongoing cRCTs. The included trial was conducted in an urban setting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It utilized a nested test‐negative study design, whereby all participants aged three to 45 years who presented at healthcare centres with a fever were enrolle...

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The wMel Wolbachia strain blocks dengue and invades caged Aedes aegypti populations

Cited by 1,201 publications

References 37 publications

Wolbachia enhances insect‐specific flavivirus infection in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Wolbachia enhances insect‐specific flavivirus infection in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Wolbachia -carrying Aedes mosquitoes for preventing dengue infection

Wolbachia-carrying Aedes mosquitoes for preventing dengue infection

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