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

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

2011

E04176

Dengue fever is the most important mosquito-borne viral disease of humans with more than 50 million cases estimated annually in more than 100 countries 1,2. Disturbingly, the geographic range of dengue is currently expanding and the severity of outbreaks is increasing24. Control options for dengue are very limited and currently focus on reducing population abundance of the major mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti 5,6 . These strategies are failing to reduce dengue incidence in tropical communities and there is an urgent need for effective alternatives. It has been proposed that endosymbiotic bacterialWolbachia infections of insects might be used in novel strategies for dengue control 79. For example, the wMelPop-CLA Wolbachia strain reduces the lifespan of adult A. aegypti mosquitoes in stably transinfected lines 8. This life-shortening phenotype was predicted to reduce the potential for dengue transmission. The recent discovery that severalWolbachia infections, includingwMelPop-CLA, can also directly influence the susceptibility of insects to infection with a range of insect and human\n pathogens 911 has markedly changed the potential for Wolbachia infections to control human diseases. Here we describe the successful transinfection ofA. aegypti with the avirulent wMel strain of\n Wolbachia, which induces the reproductive phenotype cytoplasmic incompatibility with minimal apparent fitness costs and high maternal transmission, providing optimal phenotypic effects for invasion. Under semi-field conditions, thewMel strain increased from an initial starting frequency of 0.65 to near fixation within a few generations, invadingA. aegypti populations at an accelerated rate relative to trials with thewMelPop-CLA strain. We also show thatwMel and wMelPop-CLA strains block transmission of dengue serotype 2 (DENV-2) inA. aegypti, forming the basis of a practical approach to dengue suppression 12.

v.476:450-453, NATURE

Research > Published Articles