Comparison of Stable and Transient Wolbachia Infection Models in Aedes aegypti to Block Dengue and West Nile Viruses

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Jan 4;11(1):e0005275. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005275. eCollection 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Pathogen replication and transmission in Wolbachia infected insects are currently studied using three Wolbachia infection systems: naturally infected Wolbachia hosts, hosts transinfected with Wolbachia (stably maintained and inherited infections) and hosts transiently infected with Wolbachia. All three systems have been used to test the effect of Wolbachia on mosquito transmitted pathogens such as dengue virus (DENV), West Nile virus (WNV) and Plasmodium. From these studies it is becoming increasingly clear that the interaction between a particular pathogen and Wolbachia is heavily influenced by the host-Wolbachia interaction and the model of infection. In particular, there is some evidence that under very specific conditions, Wolbachia can enhance pathogen infection in some hosts. In this study, we compared the effect of Wolbachia in two infection models (stable transinfected and transiently infected) on the replication, infection- and transmission rates of two flaviviruses, DENV and WNV (Kunjin strain). Our results indicate that Wolbachia had similar blocking effects in both stable and transient models of infection, however, the magnitude of the blocking effect was significantly lower in mosquitoes transiently infected with Wolbachia. More importantly, no evidence was found for any enhancement of either DENV or WNV (Kunjin strain) infection in Ae. aegypti infected with Wolbachia, supporting a role for Wolbachia as an effective and safe means for restricting transmission of these viruses.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aedes / microbiology*
  • Animals
  • Dengue / microbiology
  • Dengue / transmission
  • Dengue Virus / physiology*
  • Female
  • Insect Vectors
  • Male
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Virus Replication / physiology*
  • West Nile Fever / microbiology
  • West Nile Fever / transmission
  • West Nile virus / physiology*
  • Wolbachia / physiology*

Grants and funding

This work was support by grants to SLO from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/) and the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia (https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/) programme grant 1037003. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.