Using Wolbachia to Eliminate Dengue: Will the Virus Fight Back?
Recent field trials have demonstrated that dengue incidence can be substantially reduced by introgressing strains of the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia into Aedes aegypti mosquito populations. This strategy relies on Wolbachia reducing the susceptibility of Ae. aegypti to disseminated infection by positive-sense RNA viruses like dengue. However, RNA viruses are well known to adapt to antiviral pressures. Here, we review the viral infection stages where selection for Wolbachia-resistant virus variants could occur. We also consider the genetic constraints imposed on viruses that alternate between vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, and the likely selection pressures to which dengue virus might adapt in order to be effectively transmitted by Ae. aegypti that carry Wolbachia. While there are hurdles to dengue viruses developing resistance to Wolbachia, we suggest that long-term surveillance for resistant viruses should be an integral component of Wolbachia-introgression biocontrol programs.
Wolbachia’s Deleterious Impact on Aedes aegypti Egg Development: The Potential Role of Nutritional Parasitism.
Allman MJ, Fraser JE, Ritchie SA, Joubert DA, Simmons CP, Flores HA
Novel phenotype of Wolbachia strain wPip in Aedes aegypti challenges assumptions on mechanisms of Wolbachia-mediated dengue virus inhibition.
Fraser JE, Valenzuela JG, O’Donnell TB, Duyvestyn JM, O’Neill SL, Simmons CP, Flores HA
Tenth Scientific Biennial Meeting of the Australasian Virology Society-AVS10 2019
Helbig KJ, Bull RA, Ambrose R, Beard MR, Blanchard H, Böcking T, Chua B, Colmant AMG, Crosse KM, Purcell DFJ, Fraser J, Hayward JA, Hamilton ST, Husain M, MacDiarmid R, Mackenzie JM, Moseley GW, Nguyen THO, Quiñones-Mateu ME, Robinson K, Rodrigo C, Rodriguez-Andres J, Rudd PA, Werno A, White P, Young P, Speck P, Hibma M, Drummer HE, Tachedjian G
Novel Flavivirus Antiviral That Targets the Host Nuclear Transport Importin α/β1 Heterodimer.
Yang SNY, Atkinson SC, Fraser JE, Wang C, Maher B, Roman N, Forwood JK, Wagstaff KM, Borg NA, Jans DA
Novel Wolbachia-transinfected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes possess diverse fitness and vector competence phenotypes.
Fraser JE, Taneja De Bruyne J, Iturbe-Ormaetxe I, Stepnell J, Burns RL, Flores HA, O'Neill SL