Wolbachia wAlbB inhibit dengue and Zika infection in the mosquito Aedes aegypti with an Australian background

Leon E Hugo; Gordana Rašić; Andrew J Maynard; Luke Ambrose; Catherine Liddington; Callum J E Thomas; Nisa Suraj Nath; Melissa Graham; Clay Winterford; B M C Randika Wimalasiri-Yapa; Zhiyong Xi; Nigel W Beebe; Gregor J Devine

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0010786

Wolbachia wAlbB inhibit dengue and Zika infection in the mosquito Aedes aegypti with an Australian background

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Oct 13;16(10):e0010786. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010786. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Affiliations

¹ QIMR Berghofer, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
² School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
³ CSIRO, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
⁵ Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America.

Abstract

Biological control of mosquito vectors using the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia is an emerging strategy for the management of human arboviral diseases. We recently described the development of a strain of Aedes aegypti infected with the Wolbachia strain wAlbB (referred to as the wAlbB2-F4 strain) through simple backcrossing of wild type Australian mosquitoes with a wAlbB infected Ae. aegypti strain from the USA. Field releases of male wAlbB2-F4 mosquitoes resulted in the successful suppression of wild populations of mosquitoes in the trial sites by exploiting the strain's Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility. We now demonstrate that the strain is resistant to infection by dengue and Zika viruses and is genetically similar to endemic Queensland populations. There was a fourfold reduction in the proportion of wAlbB2-F4 mosquitoes that became infected following a blood meal containing dengue 2 virus (16.7%) compared to wild type mosquitoes (69.2%) and a 6-7 fold reduction in the proportion of wAlbB2-F4 mosquitoes producing virus in saliva following a blood meal containing an epidemic strain of Zika virus (8.7% in comparison to 58.3% in wild type mosquitoes). Restriction-site Associated DNA (RAD) sequencing revealed that wAlbB2-F4 mosquitoes have > 98% Australian ancestry, confirming the successful introduction of the wAlbB2 infection into the Australian genomic background through backcrossing. Genotypic and phenotypic analyses showed the wAlbB2-F4 strain retains the insecticide susceptible phenotype and genotype of native Australian mosquitoes. We demonstrate that the Wolbachia wAlbB2-F4, in addition to being suitable for population suppression programs, can also be effective in population replacement programs given its inhibition of virus infection in mosquitoes. The ease at which a target mosquito population can be transfected with wAlbB2, while retaining the genotypes and phenotypes of the target population, shows the utility of this strain for controlling the Ae. aegypti mosquitoes and the pathogens they transmit.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aedes*
Animals
Australia
DNA
Dengue Virus* / physiology
Dengue* / prevention & control
Humans
Insecticides*
Male
Mosquito Vectors
Wolbachia* / physiology
Zika Virus Infection* / prevention & control
Zika Virus* / genetics

Substances

Insecticides
DNA

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (1082127) to NWB and GJD. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.