Can Anopheles gambiae be infected with Wolbachia pipientis? Insights from an in Vitro System

Jason L. Rasgon, Xiaoxia Ren, Michael Petridis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Wolbachia pipientis are maternally inherited endosymbionts associated with cytoplasmic incompatibility, a potential mechanism to drive transgenic traits into Anopheles populations for malaria control. W. pipientis infections are common in many mosquito genera but have never been observed in any Anopheles species, leading to the hypothesis that Anopheles mosquitoes are incapable of harboring infection. We used an in vitro system to evaluate the ability of Anopheles gambiae cells to harbor diverse W. pipientis infections. We successfully established W. pipientis infections (strains wRi and wAlbB) in the immunocompetent Anopheles gambiae cell line Sua5B. Infection was confirmed by PCR, antibiotic curing, DNA sequencing, and direct observation using fluorescence in situ hybridization. The infections were maintained at high passage rates for >30 passages. Our results indicate that there is no intrinsic genetic block to W. pipientis infection in A. gambiae cells, suggesting that establishment of in vivo W. pipientis infections in Anopheles mosquitoes may be feasible.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7718-7722
Number of pages5
JournalApplied and environmental microbiology
Volume72
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2006

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biotechnology
  • Food Science
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • Ecology

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