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First report of natural Wolbachia infection in the malaria mosquito Anopheles arabiensis in Tanzania
- Source :
- Parasites & Vectors, Parasites & Vectors, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2018)
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- BioMed Central, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Background Natural infections of the endosymbiont bacteria Wolbachia have recently been discovered in populations of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) in Burkina Faso and Mali, West Africa. This Anopheles specific strain wAnga limits the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum infections in the mosquito, thus it offers novel opportunities for malaria control. Results We investigated Wolbachia presence in Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles funestus, which are the two main malaria vectors in the Kilombero Valley, a malaria endemic region in south-eastern Tanzania. We found 3.1% (n = 65) and 7.5% (n = 147) wAnga infection prevalence in An. arabiensis in mosquitoes collected in 2014 and 2016, respectively, while no infection was detected in An. funestus (n = 41). Phylogenetic analysis suggests that at least two distinct strains of wAnga were detected, both belonging to Wolbachia supergroup A and B. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first confirmation of natural Wolbachia in malaria vectors in Tanzania, which opens novel questions on the ecological and genetic basis of its persistence and pathogen transmission in the vector hosts. Understanding the basis of interactions between Wolbachia, Anopheles mosquitoes and malaria parasites is crucial for investigation of its potential application as a biocontrol strategy to reduce malaria transmission, and assessment of how natural wAnga infections influence pathogen transmission in different ecological settings. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-018-3249-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Malaria parasite
DNA, Bacterial
Anopheles gambiae
030231 tropical medicine
Short Report
Zoology
Mosquito Vectors
Tanzania
lcsh:Infectious and parasitic diseases
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Maternal transmission
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
parasitic diseases
Anopheles
medicine
Animals
Cluster Analysis
lcsh:RC109-216
Endosymbiont
biology
Transmission (medicine)
Genetic Variation
Plasmodium falciparum
Sequence Analysis, DNA
medicine.disease
biology.organism_classification
Vector control
3. Good health
Malaria
030104 developmental biology
Infectious Diseases
Parasitology
Vector (epidemiology)
Wolbachia
Female
Pathogen interference
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17563305
- Volume :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Parasites & Vectors
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....54b4686947858ada4fd78bf411d7a0bd