Biological comparative study between infected mosquito and -uninfected strain, Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia.

In this study, samples of -infected mosquitoes were collected from Al-Safa district in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. The presence of bacteria in mosquitoes was confirmed by PCR technique and they were reared and propagated in the laboratory. Comparative studies were conducted between -infected and the -uninfected laboratory strain in terms of their ability to withstand drought, resist two types of insecticides and the activities of pesticide detoxification enzymes. The Wolbachia-infected strain proved less able to withstand the drought period, as the egg-hatching rate of the Wolbachia-uninfected strain was greater than that of the Wolbachia-infected strain after one, two and three months of dry periods. Compared to the uninfected strain, the -infected strain demonstrated a relatively greater resistance to tested pesticides, namely Baton 100EC and Fendure 25EC which may be attributed to the higher levels of the detoxification enzymes glutathione-S-transferase and catalase and the lower levels of esterase and acetylcholine esterase.