Altered gene expression profile of Wolbachia pipientis wAlbB strain following transinfection from its native host Aedes albopictus to Aedes aegypti cells

Abstract

Wolbachia is an obligate intracellular bacterial symbiont prevalent among arthropods and nematodes. To survive and reproduce, Wolbachia interacts with and modifies host subcellular structures, while sensing and responding to changes within the cellular environment. In mutualistic associations, Wolbachia may provision the host with metabolites, or help to maintain the chemical homeostasis of the host cell. Some strains can rapidly invade insect populations by manipulating host reproductive biology, while also preventing viral replication, allowing their use in vector control of arthropod‐borne viruses. The Aedes albopictus‐derived strain wAlbB is promising in this regard. When transinfected into the Yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, wAlbB reaches high frequencies within wild populations, and strongly inhibits viral transmission. Despite its obvious potential, much is still unknown about the molecular interactions between Wolbachia and host that enable its use in vector control. Furthermore, most Wolbachia transinfection research to date has focused on host effects. In the current study, we used a cell line model to explore the effect of transinfection of wAlbB from Ae. albopictus to Ae. aegypti. Using RNA sequencing, we show that several genes associated with host‐symbiont interactions were downregulated by transinfection, with the greatest downregulation exhibited by prophage‐associated genes.

Uncovering the Worldwide Diversity and Evolution of the Virome of the Mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus

“…w AlbB), suggesting contamination of San Gabriel virus from the Aa23 cells during the production of the Aag2. w AlbB cell line [ 63 ]. The presence of three negative-sense RNA viruses is consistent with reports that Wolbachia does not confer a refractory virus phenotype to negative-sense RNA viruses [ 18 , 165 , 166 ].…”