The effect of virus-blocking Wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti.
The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia blocks the transmission of dengue virus by its vector mosquito Aedes aegypti, and is currently being evaluated for control of dengue outbreaks. Wolbachia induces cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) that results in the developmental failure of offspring in the cross...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:96f98a03fa6b4341843bd79b07de602f 2023-05-15T15:12:12+02:00 The effect of virus-blocking Wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Michal Segoli Ary A Hoffmann Jane Lloyd Gavin J Omodei Scott A Ritchie 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 https://doaj.org/article/96f98a03fa6b4341843bd79b07de602f EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4263406?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 https://doaj.org/article/96f98a03fa6b4341843bd79b07de602f PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 8, Iss 12, p e3294 (2014) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 2022-12-30T23:19:51Z The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia blocks the transmission of dengue virus by its vector mosquito Aedes aegypti, and is currently being evaluated for control of dengue outbreaks. Wolbachia induces cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) that results in the developmental failure of offspring in the cross between Wolbachia-infected males and uninfected females. This increases the relative success of infected females in the population, thereby enhancing the spread of the beneficial bacterium. However, Wolbachia spread via CI will only be feasible if infected males are sufficiently competitive in obtaining a mate under field conditions. We tested the effect of Wolbachia on the competitiveness of A. aegypti males under semi-field conditions.In a series of experiments we exposed uninfected females to Wolbachia-infected and uninfected males simultaneously. We scored the competitiveness of infected males according to the proportion of females producing non-viable eggs due to incompatibility. We found that infected males were equally successful to uninfected males in securing a mate within experimental tents and semi-field cages. This was true for males infected by the benign wMel Wolbachia strain, but also for males infected by the virulent wMelPop (popcorn) strain. By manipulating male size we found that larger males had a higher success than smaller underfed males in the semi-field cages, regardless of their infection status.The results indicate that Wolbachia infection does not reduce the competitiveness of A. aegypti males. Moreover, the body size effect suggests a potential advantage for lab-reared Wolbachia-males during a field release episode, due to their better nutrition and larger size. This may promote Wolbachia spread via CI in wild mosquito populations and underscores its potential use for disease control. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 8 12 e3294 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Michal Segoli Ary A Hoffmann Jane Lloyd Gavin J Omodei Scott A Ritchie The effect of virus-blocking Wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia blocks the transmission of dengue virus by its vector mosquito Aedes aegypti, and is currently being evaluated for control of dengue outbreaks. Wolbachia induces cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) that results in the developmental failure of offspring in the cross between Wolbachia-infected males and uninfected females. This increases the relative success of infected females in the population, thereby enhancing the spread of the beneficial bacterium. However, Wolbachia spread via CI will only be feasible if infected males are sufficiently competitive in obtaining a mate under field conditions. We tested the effect of Wolbachia on the competitiveness of A. aegypti males under semi-field conditions.In a series of experiments we exposed uninfected females to Wolbachia-infected and uninfected males simultaneously. We scored the competitiveness of infected males according to the proportion of females producing non-viable eggs due to incompatibility. We found that infected males were equally successful to uninfected males in securing a mate within experimental tents and semi-field cages. This was true for males infected by the benign wMel Wolbachia strain, but also for males infected by the virulent wMelPop (popcorn) strain. By manipulating male size we found that larger males had a higher success than smaller underfed males in the semi-field cages, regardless of their infection status.The results indicate that Wolbachia infection does not reduce the competitiveness of A. aegypti males. Moreover, the body size effect suggests a potential advantage for lab-reared Wolbachia-males during a field release episode, due to their better nutrition and larger size. This may promote Wolbachia spread via CI in wild mosquito populations and underscores its potential use for disease control. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Michal Segoli Ary A Hoffmann Jane Lloyd Gavin J Omodei Scott A Ritchie |
author_facet |
Michal Segoli Ary A Hoffmann Jane Lloyd Gavin J Omodei Scott A Ritchie |
author_sort |
Michal Segoli |
title |
The effect of virus-blocking Wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. |
title_short |
The effect of virus-blocking Wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. |
title_full |
The effect of virus-blocking Wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. |
title_fullStr |
The effect of virus-blocking Wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effect of virus-blocking Wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. |
title_sort |
effect of virus-blocking wolbachia on male competitiveness of the dengue vector mosquito, aedes aegypti. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 https://doaj.org/article/96f98a03fa6b4341843bd79b07de602f |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 8, Iss 12, p e3294 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4263406?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 https://doaj.org/article/96f98a03fa6b4341843bd79b07de602f |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 |
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PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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8 |
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12 |
container_start_page |
e3294 |
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