Wolbachia infections in natural Anopheles populations affect egg laying and negatively correlate with Plasmodium development

Shaw, W. R., Marcenac, P., Childs, L. M., Buckee, C. O., Baldini, F. , Sawadogo, S. P., Dabire, R. K., Diabaté, A. and Catteruccia, F. (2016) Wolbachia infections in natural Anopheles populations affect egg laying and negatively correlate with Plasmodium development. Nature Communications, 7, 11772. (doi: 10.1038/ncomms11772) (PMID:27243367) (PMCID:PMC4895022)

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Abstract

The maternally inherited alpha-proteobacterium Wolbachia has been proposed as a tool to block transmission of devastating mosquito-borne infectious diseases like dengue and malaria. Here we study the reproductive manipulations induced by a recently identified Wolbachia strain that stably infects natural mosquito populations of a major malaria vector, Anopheles coluzzii, in Burkina Faso. We determine that these infections significantly accelerate egg laying but do not induce cytoplasmic incompatibility or sex-ratio distortion, two parasitic reproductive phenotypes that facilitate the spread of other Wolbachia strains within insect hosts. Analysis of 221 blood-fed A. coluzzii females collected from houses shows a negative correlation between the presence of Plasmodium parasites and Wolbachia infection. A mathematical model incorporating these results predicts that infection with these endosymbionts may reduce malaria prevalence in human populations. These data suggest that Wolbachia may be an important player in malaria transmission dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R21AI117313 to FC. This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE1144152 to P.M. Travel to Burkina Faso was in part supported by Harvard University’s ‘Defeating Malaria: From the Genes to the Globe’ Initiative to W.R.S.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Baldini, Dr Francesco
Authors: Shaw, W. R., Marcenac, P., Childs, L. M., Buckee, C. O., Baldini, F., Sawadogo, S. P., Dabire, R. K., Diabaté, A., and Catteruccia, F.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
Journal Name:Nature Communications
Publisher:Nature Publishing Group
ISSN:2041-1723
ISSN (Online):2041-1723
Published Online:31 May 2016
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2016 The Authors
First Published:First published in Nature Communications 7:11772
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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