School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia.
Cell. 2009 Dec 24;139(7):1268-78. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2009.11.042.
Wolbachia are maternally inherited intracellular bacterial symbionts that are estimated to infect more than 60% of all insect species. While Wolbachia is commonly found in many mosquitoes it is absent from the species that are considered to be of major importance for the transmission of human pathogens. The successful introduction of a life-shortening strain of Wolbachia into the dengue vector Aedes aegypti that halves adult lifespan has recently been reported. Here we show that this same Wolbachia infection also directly inhibits the ability of a range of pathogens to infect this mosquito species. The effect is Wolbachia strain specific and relates to Wolbachia priming of the mosquito innate immune system and potentially competition for limiting cellular resources required for pathogen replication. We suggest that this Wolbachia-mediated pathogen interference may work synergistically with the life-shortening strategy proposed previously to provide a powerful approach for the control of insect transmitted diseases.
沃尔巴克氏体是一种母系遗传的胞内共生细菌，据估计，其感染了超过 60%的所有昆虫物种。虽然沃尔巴克氏体在许多蚊子中很常见，但在那些被认为对人类病原体传播具有重要意义的物种中却不存在。最近有报道称，成功将一种缩短寿命的沃尔巴克氏体菌株引入到登革热传播媒介埃及伊蚊中，该菌株可将成蚊寿命缩短一半。在这里，我们表明，这种相同的沃尔巴克氏体感染也直接抑制了一系列病原体感染这种蚊子的能力。这种效果是沃尔巴克氏体菌株特异性的，与沃尔巴克氏体对蚊子先天免疫系统的启动以及可能对限制病原体复制所需的有限细胞资源的竞争有关。我们认为，这种沃尔巴克氏体介导的病原体干扰可能与之前提出的缩短寿命策略协同作用，为控制昆虫传播疾病提供一种强大的方法。
