title: Wolbachia infection reduces blood-feeding success in the dengue fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The mosquito Aedes aegypti was recently transinfected with a life-shortening strain of the endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis (wMelPop) as the first step in developing a biocontrol strategy for dengue virus transmission. In addition to life-shortening, the wMelPop-infected mosquitoes also exhibit increased daytime activity and metabolic rates. Here we sought to quantify the blood-feeding behaviour of Wolbachia-infected females as an indicator of any virulence or energetic drain associated with Wolbachia infection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In a series of blood-feeding trials in response to humans, we have shown that Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes do not differ in their response time to humans, but that as they age they obtain fewer and smaller blood meals than Wolbachia-uninfected controls. Lastly, we observed a behavioural characteristic in the Wolbachia infected mosquitoes best described as a "bendy" proboscis that may explain the decreased biting success.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together the evidence suggests that wMelPop infection may be causing tissue damage in a manner that intensifies with mosquito age and that leads to reduced blood-feeding success. These behavioural changes require further investigation with respect to a possible physiological mechanism and their role in vectorial capacity of the insect. The selective decrease of feeding success in older mosquitoes may act synergistically with other Wolbachia-associated traits including life-shortening and viral protection in biocontrol strategies.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Turley
authors.forename: Luciano A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: Scott L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: McGraw