Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China.
Tropical Diseases Research Center, Department of Pathogen Biology, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China.
Parasit Vectors. 2023 Apr 14;16(1):128. doi: 10.1186/s13071-023-05719-y.
Mosquitoes are vectors of many pathogens, such as malaria, dengue virus, yellow fever virus, filaria and Japanese encephalitis virus. Wolbachia are capable of inducing a wide range of reproductive abnormalities in their hosts, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility. Wolbachia has been proposed as a tool to modify mosquitoes that are resistant to pathogen infection as an alternative vector control strategy. This study aimed to determine natural Wolbachia infections in different mosquito species across Hainan Province, China.
Adult mosquitoes were collected using light traps, human landing catches and aspirators in five areas in Hainan Province from May 2020 to November 2021. Species were identified based on morphological characteristics, species-specific PCR and DNA barcoding of cox1 assays. Molecular classification of species and phylogenetic analyses of Wolbachia infections were conducted based on the sequences from PCR products of cox1, wsp, 16S rRNA and FtsZ gene segments.
A total of 413 female adult mosquitoes representing 15 species were identified molecularly and analyzed. Four mosquito species (Aedes albopictus, Culex quinquefasciatus, Armigeres subalbatus and Culex gelidus) were positive for Wolbachia infection. The overall Wolbachia infection rate for all mosquitoes tested in this study was 36.1% but varied among species. Wolbachia types A, B and mixed infections of A × B were detected in Ae. albopictus mosquitoes. A total of five wsp haplotypes, six FtsZ haplotypes and six 16S rRNA haplotypes were detected from Wolbachia infections. Phylogenetic tree analysis of wsp sequences classified them into three groups (type A, B and C) of Wolbachia strains compared to two groups each for FtsZ and 16S rRNA sequences. A novel type C Wolbachia strain was detected in Cx. gelidus by both single locus wsp gene and the combination of three genes.
Our study revealed the prevalence and distribution of Wolbachia in mosquitoes from Hainan Province, China. Knowledge of the prevalence and diversity of Wolbachia strains in local mosquito populations will provide part of the baseline information required for current and future Wolbachia-based vector control approaches to be conducted in Hainan Province.
蚊子是多种病原体的传播媒介，如疟疾、登革热病毒、黄热病病毒、丝虫和日本脑炎病毒。沃尔巴克氏体能够在其宿主中诱导广泛的生殖异常，如细胞质不相容。沃尔巴克氏体已被提议作为一种工具，用于修饰对病原体感染具有抗性的蚊子，作为替代的蚊虫控制策略。本研究旨在确定中国海南省不同蚊种中的自然沃尔巴克氏体感染情况。
2020 年 5 月至 2021 年 11 月，在海南省五个地区使用灯光诱捕器、人体降落捕捉器和吸蚊器收集成年蚊子。根据形态特征、种特异性 PCR 和 cox1 基因片段的 DNA 条形码鉴定物种。根据 cox1、wsp、16S rRNA 和 FtsZ 基因片段的 PCR 产物序列进行物种的分子分类和沃尔巴克氏体感染的系统发育分析。
共鉴定并分析了 413 只代表 15 个种的成年雌性蚊子。四种蚊子（白纹伊蚊、致倦库蚊、三带喙库蚊和寒带库蚊）被检测出感染了沃尔巴克氏体。本研究中所有测试蚊子的总沃尔巴克氏体感染率为 36.1%，但在不同种间有所差异。在白纹伊蚊中检测到沃尔巴克氏体 A、B 型和 A × B 混合感染。从沃尔巴克氏体感染中检测到 5 种 wsp 单倍型、6 种 FtsZ 单倍型和 6 种 16S rRNA 单倍型。wsp 序列的系统发育树分析将其分为三个组（A、B 和 C 型）的沃尔巴克氏菌株，而 FtsZ 和 16S rRNA 序列的每个组各分为两个组。通过单一基因 wsp 基因和三个基因的组合，在 Cx. gelidus 中检测到一种新型 C 型沃尔巴克氏体菌株。
本研究揭示了中国海南省蚊子中沃尔巴克氏体的流行情况和分布。了解当地蚊种群中沃尔巴克氏体菌株的流行情况和多样性，将为海南省当前和未来基于沃尔巴克氏体的蚊虫控制方法提供部分基础信息。
