The Effect of Virus-Blocking Wolbachia on Male Competitiveness of the Dengue Vector Mosquito, Aedes aegypti

M Segoli; AA Hoffmann; J Lloyd; GJ Omodei; SA Ritchie

Journal article

The Effect of Virus-Blocking Wolbachia on Male Competitiveness of the Dengue Vector Mosquito, Aedes aegypti

M Segoli, AA Hoffmann, J Lloyd, GJ Omodei, SA Ritchie

Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2014

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003294

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Abstract

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. a..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Ary Hoffmann Author

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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

The work was funded by Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship - FL100100066 www.arc.gov.au, National Health Medical Research Council 1037003 and Senior Research Fellowship 1044698 (www.nhmrc.gov.au). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.