Aix Marseille Univ, IRD, AP-HM, MEPHI, IHU-Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France.
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Vectorielle et Parasitaire, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal.
Malar J. 2018 Nov 6;17(1):408. doi: 10.1186/s12936-018-2559-z.
Until very recently, Anopheles were considered naturally unable to host Wolbachia, an intracellular bacterium regarded as a potential biological control tool. Their detection in field populations of Anopheles gambiae sensu lato, suggests that they may also be present in many more anopheline species than previously thought.
Here, is reported the first discovery of natural Wolbachia infections in Anopheles funestus populations from Senegal, the second main malaria vector in Africa. Molecular phylogeny analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene revealed at least two Wolbachia genotypes which were named wAnfu-A and wAnfu-B, according to their close relatedness to the A and B supergroups. Furthermore, both wAnfu genotypes displayed high proximity with wAnga sequences previously described from the An. gambiae complex, with only few nucleotide differences. However, the low prevalence of infection, together with the difficulties encountered for detection, whatever method used, highlights the need to develop an effective and sensitive Wolbachia screening method dedicated to anopheline.
The discovery of natural Wolbachia infection in An. funestus, another major malaria vector, may overcome the main limitation of using a Wolbachia-based approach to control malaria through population suppression and/or replacement.
直到最近，人们还认为按蚊自然无法携带沃尔巴克氏体，这种胞内细菌被认为是一种有潜力的生物控制工具。在冈比亚按蚊复合群的野外种群中发现了它们，这表明沃尔巴克氏体可能存在于比以前认为的更多的按蚊物种中。
本文首次报道了在塞内加尔的致倦库蚊种群中发现了自然感染的沃尔巴克氏体，致倦库蚊是非洲的第二种主要疟疾传播媒介。基于 16S rRNA 基因的分子系统发育分析显示，至少有两种沃尔巴克氏体基因型，分别命名为 wAnfu-A 和 wAnfu-B，这是根据它们与 A 和 B 超群的密切关系。此外，这两种 wAnfu 基因型与之前从冈比亚按蚊复合体中描述的 wAnga 序列非常接近，只有少数核苷酸差异。然而，感染的低流行率，以及无论使用何种方法都难以检测到，这凸显了需要开发一种针对按蚊的有效和敏感的沃尔巴克氏体筛选方法。
在另一种主要疟疾媒介致倦库蚊中发现自然感染的沃尔巴克氏体，可能克服了通过种群抑制和/或替代来利用沃尔巴克氏体方法控制疟疾的主要限制。
