Body Size and Wing Shape Measurements as Quality Indicators of Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Destined for Field Release

Yeap, Heng Lin; Endersby, N. M.; Johnson, Petrina H.; Ritchie, Scott A.; Hoffmann, Ary A.

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.12-0719

Cited by 86 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…A similar result was obtained with released w Mel-infected mosquitoes [11]. Within the released mosquitoes, there was no evidence for direct selection on size because size of field cage reared and captured mosquitoes were similar.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Assessing quality of life-shortening Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the field based on capture rates and morphometric assessments

et al. 2014

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BackgroundRecent releases have been carried out with Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the wMelPop mosquito cell-line adapted (wMelPop-CLA) strain of Wolbachia. This infection introduced from Drosophila provides strong blockage of dengue and other arboviruses but also has large fitness costs in laboratory tests. The releases were used to evaluate the fitness of released infected mosquitoes, and (following termination of releases) to test for any effects of wMelPop-CLA on wing size and shape when mosquitoes were reared under field conditions.MethodsWe monitored gravid females via double sticky traps to assess the reproductive success of wMelPop-CLA-infected females and also sampled the overall mosquito population post-release using Biogent Sentinel traps. Morphometric analyses were used to evaluate infection effects on wing shape as well as size.ResultsOviposition success as assessed through double sticky traps was unrelated to size of released mosquitoes. However, released mosquitoes with lower wing loading were more successful. Furthermore, wMelPop-CLA-infected mosquitoes had 38.3% of the oviposition success of uninfected mosquitoes based on the predicted infection frequency after release. Environmental conditions affected wing shape and particularly size across time in uninfected mosquitoes, but not in naturally-reared wMelPop-CLA-infected mosquitoes. Although the overall size and shape do not differ between naturally-reared wMelPop-CLA-infected and uninfected mosquitoes, the infected mosquitoes tended to have smaller wings than uninfected mosquitoes during the cooler November in comparison to December.ConclusionThese results confirm the lower fitness of wMelPop-CLA infection under field conditions, helping to explain challenges associated with a successful invasion by this strain. In the long run, invasion may depend on releasing strains carrying insecticide resistance or egg desiccation resistance, combined with an active pre-release population suppression program.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Assessing quality of life-shortening Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the field based on capture rates and morphometric assessments

et al. 2014

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“…Images were cropped and landmarks positioned with the aid of a custom-designed graphical user interface, coded in MATLAB 2012b using the Image Processing Toolkit. Twelve landmark positions were selected, based on previous literature of insects [61–62] and specifically Aedes [63, 49] wing morphometry. Procrustes superimposition was optimized over ten iterations, standardizing centroid size to remove location and orientation effects.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-Mating Compatibility and Competitiveness among Aedes albopictus Strains from Distinct Geographic Origins - Implications for Future Application of SIT Programs in the South West Indian Ocean Islands

Damiens

Lebon²,

Wilkinson

et al. 2016

PLoS ONE

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The production of large numbers of males needed for a sustainable sterile insect technique (SIT) control program requires significant developmental and operational costs. This may constitute a significant economic barrier to the installation of large scale rearing facilities in countries that are undergoing a transition from being largely dependent on insecticide use to be in a position to integrate the SIT against Aedes albopictus. Alternative options available for those countries could be to rely on outsourcing of sterile males from a foreign supplier, or for one centralised facility to produce mosquitoes for several countries, thus increasing the efficiency of the mass-rearing effort. However, demonstration of strain compatibility is a prerequisite for the export of mosquitoes for transborder SIT applications. Here, we compared mating compatibility among Ae. albopictus populations originating from three islands of the South Western Indian Ocean, and assessed both insemination rates and egg fertility in all possible cross-mating combinations. Furthermore, competitiveness between irradiated and non-irradiated males from the three studied strains, and the subsequent effect on female fertility were also examined. Although morphometric analysis of wing shapes suggested phenoptypic differences between Ae. albopictus strains, perfect reproductive compatibility between them was observed. Furthermore, irradiated males from the different islands demonstrated similar levels of competitiveness and induced sterility when confronted with fertile males from any of the other island populations tested. In conclusion, despite the evidence of inter-strain differences based on male wing morphology, collectively, our results provide a new set of expectations for the use of a single candidate strain of mass-reared sterile males for area-wide scale application of SIT against Ae. albopictus populations in different islands across the South Western Indian Ocean. Cross-mating competitiveness tests such as those applied here are necessary to assess the quality of mass reared strains for the trans-border application of sterile male release programs.

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“…Diagnosis was based on crossing-point values for the PCR and melting temperature from high-resolution melt analysis. More details of the screening method are provided by Yeap and others 40 and Lee and others. 39 Statistical analyses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Larval Competition Extends Developmental Time and Decreases Adult Size of wMelPop Wolbachia-Infected Aedes aegypti

Ross¹,

Endersby²,

Yeap³

et al. 2014

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Abstract. The intracellular endosymbiont Wolbachia has been artificially transinfected into the dengue vector Aedes aegypti, where it is being investigated as a potential dengue biological control agent. Invasion of Wolbachia in natural populations depends upon the fitness of Wolbachia-infected Ae. aegypti relative to uninfected competitors. Although Wolbachia infections impose fitness costs on the adult host, effects at the immature stages are less clear, particularly in competitive situations. We look for effects of two Wolbachia infections, wMel and wMelPop, on intra-strain and interstrain larval competition in Ae. aegypti. Development of Wolbachia-infected larvae is delayed in mixed cohorts with uninfected larvae under crowded-rearing conditions. Slow developing wMelPop-infected larvae have reduced adult size compared with uninfected larvae, and larvae with the wMel infection are somewhat larger and have greater viability relative to uninfected larvae when in mixed cohorts. Implications for successful invasion by these Wolbachia infections under field conditions are considered.

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Body Size and Wing Shape Measurements as Quality Indicators of Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Destined for Field Release

Cited by 86 publications

References 71 publications

Assessing quality of life-shortening Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the field based on capture rates and morphometric assessments

Assessing quality of life-shortening Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the field based on capture rates and morphometric assessments

Cross-Mating Compatibility and Competitiveness among Aedes albopictus Strains from Distinct Geographic Origins - Implications for Future Application of SIT Programs in the South West Indian Ocean Islands

Larval Competition Extends Developmental Time and Decreases Adult Size of wMelPop Wolbachia-Infected Aedes aegypti

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