Abstract
Mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue, West Nile and chikungunya viruses cause significant morbidity and mortality in human populations. Since current methods are not sufficient to control disease occurrence, novel methods to control transmission of arboviruses would be beneficial. Recent studies have shown that virus infection and transmission in insects can be impeded by co-infection with the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis. Wolbachia is a maternally inherited endosymbiont that is commonly found in insects, including a number of mosquito vector species. In Drosophila, Wolbachia mediates antiviral protection against a broad range of RNA viruses. This discovery pointed to a potential strategy to interfere with mosquito transmission of arboviruses by artificially infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia. This review outlines research on the prevalence of Wolbachia in mosquito vector species and the impact of antiviral effects in both naturally and artificially Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes.
Highlights
Understanding the factors that contribute to the transmission of arboviruses may facilitate strategies to limit the spread of disease
This review is focused on the impact of both natural and artificial Wolbachia infection on the outcome of virus infection in vector mosquitoes
Wolbachia-mediated antiviral protection was57in0i6tially discovered in Drosophila melanogaster [24,25]
Summary
Understanding the factors that contribute to the transmission of arboviruses may facilitate strategies to limit the spread of disease. Mosquito transmission of viruses is impacted by interactions between the virus, host and other microbes. Presence of the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis can interfere with microbial and parasite infection in insects, including viruses in mosquitoes (reviewed in [1,2,3,4]). As a result of this characteristic, there is increased interest in exploiting Wolbachia as a means of biological control of arthropod transmitted infectious pathogens (reviewed in [1,5,6]). This review is focused on the impact of both natural and artificial Wolbachia infection on the outcome of virus infection in vector mosquitoes
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