Cargando…
The Effect of Virus-Blocking Wolbachia on Male Competitiveness of the Dengue Vector Mosquito, Aedes aegypti
BACKGROUND: 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 i...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2014
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4263406/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25502564 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 |
_version_ | 1782348564061487104 |
---|---|
author | Segoli, Michal Hoffmann, Ary A. Lloyd, Jane Omodei, Gavin J. Ritchie, Scott A. |
author_facet | Segoli, Michal Hoffmann, Ary A. Lloyd, Jane Omodei, Gavin J. Ritchie, Scott A. |
author_sort | Segoli, Michal |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: 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. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 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. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: 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 | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4263406 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-42634062014-12-19 The Effect of Virus-Blocking Wolbachia on Male Competitiveness of the Dengue Vector Mosquito, Aedes aegypti Segoli, Michal Hoffmann, Ary A. Lloyd, Jane Omodei, Gavin J. Ritchie, Scott A. PLoS Negl Trop Dis Research Article BACKGROUND: 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. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 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. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: 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. Public Library of Science 2014-12-11 /pmc/articles/PMC4263406/ /pubmed/25502564 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 Text en © 2014 Segoli et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Segoli, Michal Hoffmann, Ary A. Lloyd, Jane Omodei, Gavin J. Ritchie, Scott A. The Effect of Virus-Blocking Wolbachia on Male Competitiveness of the Dengue Vector Mosquito, Aedes aegypti |
title | 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_short | 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 |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4263406/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25502564 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT segolimichal theeffectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT hoffmannarya theeffectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT lloydjane theeffectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT omodeigavinj theeffectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT ritchiescotta theeffectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT segolimichal effectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT hoffmannarya effectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT lloydjane effectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT omodeigavinj effectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti AT ritchiescotta effectofvirusblockingwolbachiaonmalecompetitivenessofthedenguevectormosquitoaedesaegypti |