Can Wolbachia be used to control malaria?

Walker, Thomas; Moreira, Luciano Andrade

doi:10.1590/s0074-02762011000900026

Cited by 57 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(70 reference statements)

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“…Further research is needed to determine what role these tissues may play in the Wolbachia-host-virus interaction or following viral challenge. Wolbachia is emerging as a useful biocontrol agent to decrease transmission of insect-borne viruses such as dengue virus (7,13,14,19,23,34,38,42,43). A better understanding of Wolbachia characteristics required for antiviral protection could be useful for predicting Wolbachia strains that are likely to mediate strong antiviral protection, either in mosquitoes or in other pathogen-carrying insect species of medical or agricultural significance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Antiviral Protection and the Importance of Wolbachia Density and Tissue Tropism in Drosophila simulans

Osborne

Iturbe‐Ormaetxe

Brownlie

et al. 2012

Appl Environ Microbiol

195

182

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dWolbachia, a maternally transmitted endosymbiont of insects, is increasingly being seen as an effective biological control agent that can interfere with transmission of pathogens, including dengue virus. However, the mechanism of antiviral protection is not well understood. The density and distribution of Wolbachia in host tissues have been implicated as contributing factors by previous studies with both mosquitoes and flies. Drosophila flies infected with five diverse strains of Wolbachia were screened for the ability to mediate antiviral protection. The three protective Wolbachia strains were more closely related and occurred at a higher density within whole flies than the two nonprotective Wolbachia strains. In this study, to further investigate the relationship between whole-fly Wolbachia density and the ability to mediate antiviral protection, tetracycline was used to decrease the abundance of the high-density, protective Wolbachia strain wAu prior to viral challenge. Antiviral protection was lost when the density of the protective Wolbachia strain was decreased to an abundance similar to that of nonprotective Wolbachia strains. We determined the Wolbachia density and distribution in tissues of the same five fly-Wolbachia combinations as used previously. The Wolbachia density within the head, gut, and Malpighian tubules correlated with the ability to mediate antiviral protection. These findings may facilitate the development of Wolbachia biological control strategies and help to predict host-Wolbachia pairings that may interfere with virus-induced pathology.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…olbachia, an intracellular endosymbiont of insects, is increasingly being seen as an effective biological control agent that can interfere with the transmission of pathogens that are vectored by insects (7,13,14,19,23,34,38,42,43). Wolbachia is a maternally transmitted bacterium which is predicted to infect up to 70% of insect species (17,24,45).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Antiviral Protection and the Importance of Wolbachia Density and Tissue Tropism in Drosophila simulans

Osborne

Iturbe‐Ormaetxe

Brownlie

et al. 2012

Appl Environ Microbiol

195

182

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“…We examined many different species including laboratory-reared mosquito lines of Aedes fluviatilis , naturally infected by the Wolbachia strain w Flu , A. aegypti transinfected with the w MelPop and w Mel strains [17-19], and uninfected Anopheles aquasalis mosquitoes. These lines were reared at FIOCRUZ Minas as previously described [20].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolbachia detection in insects through LAMP: loop mediated isothermal amplification

et al. 2014

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BackgroundThe bacterium Wolbachia is a promising agent for the biological control of vector-borne diseases as some strains have the ability to block the transmission of key human disease-causing pathogens. Fast, accurate and inexpensive methods of differentiating between infected and uninfected insects will be of critical importance as field-based trials of Wolbachia-based bio-control become increasingly common.FindingsWe have developed a specific and sensitive method of detecting Wolbachia based on the isothermal DNA amplification. This technique can be performed in an ordinary heat block without the need for gel-based visualisation, and is effective for a wide variety of insect hosts.ConclusionHere we present the development of a rapid, highly sensitive and inexpensive method to detect Wolbachia in a variety of insect hosts, including key mosquito disease vectors.

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“…Furthermore, significant efforts to establish artificially infected lines were, up until recently, also unsuccessful 30 . Somatic, transient infections of the Wolbachia strains w MelPop and w AlbB in An.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel Wolbachia strains in Anopheles malaria vectors from Sub-Saharan Africa

Jeffries¹,

Lawrence²,

Golovko³

et al. 2018

Wellcome Open Res

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Background: Wolbachia, a common insect endosymbiotic bacterium that can influence pathogen transmission and manipulate host reproduction, has historically been considered absent from the Anopheles (An.) genera, but has recently been found in An. gambiae s.l. populations. As there are numerous Anopheles species that have the capacity to transmit malaria, we analysed a range of species to determine Wolbachia prevalence rates, characterise novel Wolbachia strains and determine any correlation between the presence of Plasmodium, Wolbachia and the competing endosymbiotic bacterium Asaia. Methods: Anopheles adult mosquitoes were collected from five malaria-endemic countries: Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana, Uganda and Madagascar, between 2013 and 2017. Molecular analysis of samples was undertaken using quantitative PCR, Sanger sequencing, Wolbachia multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Results: Novel Wolbachia strains were discovered in five species: An. coluzzii, An. gambiae s.s., An. arabiensis, An. moucheti and An. species ‘A’, increasing the number of Anopheles species known to be naturally infected. Variable prevalence rates in different locations were observed and novel strains were phylogenetically diverse, clustering with Wolbachia supergroup B strains. We also provide evidence for resident strain variants within An. species ‘A’. Wolbachia is the dominant member of the microbiome in An. moucheti and An. species ‘A’, but present at lower densities in An. coluzzii. Interestingly, no evidence of Wolbachia/Asaia co-infections was seen and Asaia infection densities were also shown to be variable and location dependent. Conclusions: The important discovery of novel Wolbachia strains in Anopheles provides greater insight into the prevalence of resident Wolbachia strains in diverse malaria vectors. Novel Wolbachia strains (particularly high-density strains) are ideal candidate strains for transinfection to create stable infections in other Anopheles mosquito species, which could be used for population replacement or suppression control strategies.

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Can Wolbachia be used to control malaria?

Cited by 57 publications

References 62 publications

Antiviral Protection and the Importance of Wolbachia Density and Tissue Tropism in Drosophila simulans

Antiviral Protection and the Importance of Wolbachia Density and Tissue Tropism in Drosophila simulans

Wolbachia detection in insects through LAMP: loop mediated isothermal amplification

Novel Wolbachia strains in Anopheles malaria vectors from Sub-Saharan Africa

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