Wolbachia infection in natural mosquito populations from Argentina

Abstract

The increasing spread of mosquito vectors has made mosquito-borne arboviral diseases a global threat to public health, leading to the urgent need for effectivepopulation control methods. Strategies based in the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia Hertig, 1936 are considered environmentally friendly, safe forhumans, and potentially cost-effective for controlling arboviral diseases. To minimize undesirable side effects, it is relevant to assess whether Wolbachia ispresent in the area and understand the diversity associated with native infections before implementing these strategies. With this purpose, we investigatedWolbachia infection status, diversity and prevalence in populations of Aedes albifasciatus (Macquart, 1838), Aedes fluviatilis (Lutz, 1904), and hybrids of theCulex pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758) complex from Argentina. Aedes albifasciatus and Cx. pipiens complex samples were collected in the province of Buenos Aires, andAe. fluviatilis in the province of Misiones. Aedes albifasciatus was found to be uninfected, while infections with strains wFlu and wPip were detected in Ae.fluviatilis and hybrids of the Cx. pipiens complex, respectively. All strains were fixed or close to fixation and clustered within supergroup B. These findingprovide valuable information on Wolbachia strains found in natural mosquito populations in Argentina that might be used in heterologous infections in thefuture or be considered when designing control strategies based on Wolbachia infection.