Abstract
The global incidence of arboviral diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, including dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika, has increased dramatically in recent decades. The release of Aedes aegypti carrying the maternally inherited symbiont Wolbachia as an intervention to control arboviruses is being trialled in several countries. However, these efforts are compromised in many endemic regions due to the co-localization of the secondary vector Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito. Ae. albopictus has an expanding global distribution following incursions into a number of new territories. To date, only the wMel and wPip strains of Wolbachia have been reported to be transferred into and characterized in this vector. A Wolbachia strain naturally infecting Drosophila simulans, wAu, was selected for transfer into a Malaysian Ae. albopictus line to create a novel triple-strain infection. The newly generated line showed self-compatibility, moderate fitness cost and complete resistance to Zika and dengue infections.
Highlights
The Asian tiger mosquito Ae. albopictus is an increasingly prominent vector of arboviruses
The need for alterative control interventions propelled the development of a novel approach that exploits a natural insect symbiont, Wolbachia; when transferred into non-native hosts, these maternally-inherited bacteria are able to interfere with the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses, and provide reproductive advantages to the host, offering a promising tool for self-sustaining field applications
Several field trials are ongoing for the primary vector of dengue and several other arboviruses, Aedes aegypti, providing encouraging results
Summary
The Asian tiger mosquito Ae. albopictus is an increasingly prominent vector of arboviruses This peridomestic and largely anthropophilic mosquito species is an aggressive daytime biter with a capacity to invade both temperate and tropical areas by adapting to different climates and producing overwintering eggs. It originates in tropical Asia, but is widely distributed across Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Pacific, and the identified transboundary mechanisms involved in its expansion contribute to a high invasiveness and ever-increasing geographic range [1, 2]. In addition to a capacity to be artificially infected with Zika virus (ZIKV) in a laboratory setting [10], field- collected Ae. albopictus in the Americas were recently found to be ZIKV-positive [11]
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