Differences in gene expression in field populations of Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with varying release histories in northern Australia

Abstract

Aedes aegypti is the principal mosquito vector of dengue, yellow fever, Zika and chikun-gunya viruses. The wMel strain of the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia pipientis was introduced into the vector as a novel biocontrol strategy to stop transmission of these viruses. Mosquitoes with Wolbachia have been released in the field in Northern Queens-land, Australia since 2011, at various locations and over several years, with populations remaining stably infected. Wolbachia infection is known to alter gene expression in its mosquito host, but whether (and how) this changes over the long-term in the context of field releases remains unknown. We sampled mosquitoes from Wolbachia-infected population..