Characterization of a Wolbachia strain native from Argentina for potential application as mosquito control agent

DÍAZ NIETO LM; LAZARTE JN; BERÓN CM

Tours

Congreso; International Congress on Invertebrate Pathology and Microbial Control and the 49th Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology; 2016

Society for Invertebrate Pathology

Wolbachia pipientis is an endosymbiotic bacterium of the Ricketttsiaceae family that naturally infects the mosquito Culex pipiens, and affects insect reproduction and pathogen transmission. Cytoplasmic incompatibility is defined as embryonic lethality caused by crosses between infected males and uninfected females, or between males and females carrying incompatible Wolbachia sp. strains. Our aim is to report the preliminary characterization of a native Wolbachia strain from Cx. pipiens mosquito of Argentina in order to evaluate its potential as a vector control agent. We carried out the molecular identification of Wolbachia strains by PCR using primers for the amplification of a specific Wolbachia surface protein in different mosquito populations all around Mar del Plata city; one of the mosquito populations was the carrier of a Wolbachia strain highly similar to an incompatibility strain wPip previously identified from Cx. quinquefasciatus. To confirm the strain ability to induce cytoplasmic incompatibility we generated a Cx. pipiens colony from a native mosquito population. The wildtype (Wsp+) colony was previously cured of its native Wolbachia infection by tetracycline treatment of adult females and males to obtain cured mosquito line (Wsp_). A 100 % of cytoplasmic incompatibility was observed in experimental crosses between Wsp+ males and Wsp_ females which demonstrates that this strain is a good candidate for a potential application of the incompatible insect technique. Future work will be needed to determine its ability to interfere in the human pathogen transmission in Cx. pipiens and the possibility of artificially transfect this strain to novel mosquito hosts that are vectors of human pathogens.Supported by ANPCyT (PICT No 2013-0431), CONICET (PIP 112 20110100963) and Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata Project (15/E692 - EXA742/15).