title: Wolbachia infections in natural Anopheles populations affect egg laying and negatively correlate with Plasmodium development.
abstract: The maternally inherited alpha-proteobacterium Wolbachia has been proposed as a tool to block transmission of devastating mosquito-borne infectious diseases like dengue and malaria. Here we study the reproductive manipulations induced by a recently identified Wolbachia strain that stably infects natural mosquito populations of a major malaria vector, Anopheles coluzzii, in Burkina Faso. We determine that these infections significantly accelerate egg laying but do not induce cytoplasmic incompatibility or sex-ratio distortion, two parasitic reproductive phenotypes that facilitate the spread of other Wolbachia strains within insect hosts. Analysis of 221 blood-fed A. coluzzii females collected from houses shows a negative correlation between the presence of Plasmodium parasites and Wolbachia infection. A mathematical model incorporating these results predicts that infection with these endosymbionts may reduce malaria prevalence in human populations. These data suggest that Wolbachia may be an important player in malaria transmission dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: W Robert
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Perrine
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marcenac
authors.affiliation: Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Childs
authors.affiliation: Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Caroline O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Buckee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5904-4070
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baldini
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé/Centre Muraz, O1 BP 390 Bobo-Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Sawadogo
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé/Centre Muraz, O1 BP 390 Bobo-Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Roch K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Dabiré
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé/Centre Muraz, O1 BP 390 Bobo-Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Abdoulaye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diabaté
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Flaminia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Catteruccia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology*; D002050:Burkina Faso / Q000453:epidemiology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D008297:Male; D000072741:Maternal Inheritance; D008954:Models, Biological; D000072138:Mosquito Vectors / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology*; D010058:Oviposition / Q000502:physiology*; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015995:Prevalence; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S