Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Molecular Detection, Characterization, and Temperature-Dependence of Wolbachia Infections in Field Populations of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquitoes in Greece

Michail Misailidis
,
Nikolaos Kotsiou
,
Aristotelis Moulistanos
ORCID logo ,
Sandra Gewehr
ORCID logo ,
Antonios A. Augustinos
ORCID logo ,
Spiros Mourelatos
,
Spiros Papakostas
* ,
Elena Drosopoulou
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 18 December 2023 / Approved: 20 December 2023 / Online: 20 December 2023 (08:46:14 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Misailidis, M.; Kotsiou, N.; Moulistanos, A.; Gewehr, S.; Augustinos, A.A.; Mourelatos, S.; Papakostas, S.; Drosopoulou, E. The Molecular Detection, Characterization, and Temperature Dependence of Wolbachia Infections in Field Populations of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquitoes in Greece. Diversity 2024, 16, 43. Misailidis, M.; Kotsiou, N.; Moulistanos, A.; Gewehr, S.; Augustinos, A.A.; Mourelatos, S.; Papakostas, S.; Drosopoulou, E. The Molecular Detection, Characterization, and Temperature Dependence of Wolbachia Infections in Field Populations of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquitoes in Greece. Diversity 2024, 16, 43.

Abstract

We investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of Wolbachia pipientis strains in Aedes albopictus populations in Greece. Using a combination of PCR and Sanger sequencing techniques, we genotyped Wolbachia strains in 105 mosquitoes collected across eight different prefectures in 2021. We found a high prevalence of Wolbachia in both male (90%) and female (97%) mosquitoes. Among the infected samples, 84% had double infections with both wAlbA and wAlbB strains, while 16% had infections with only wAlbB. Our comparison of the Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) profile, employing gatB-coxA-hcpA-ftsZ-fbpA genotyping, revealed a single MLST profile for each wAlbA and wAlbB strain in Greek populations. The same MLST profiles were also reported in populations from China, Russia, and Argentina, suggesting low levels of global diversity in wAlbA and wAlbB strains. Furthermore, our results indicated a significant association between temperature and the prevalence of single infections (P = 6.498E-07), with higher temperatures correlating with an increased likelihood of single infections. Although male-bias showed a tendency towards single infections, the effect was marginally non-significant (P = 0.053). These results were confirmed using a bootstrap-with-replacement analysis approach. Overall, our findings offer novel insights into the distribution and species diversity of Wolbachia strains in Greek Ae. albopictus populations, emphasizing the importance of understanding the short-term plastic and adaptive responses of these organisms to environmental stressors and rapid climate change.

Keywords

Asian tiger mosquito; Insect-borne disease; Microbial ecology; Microbiome dynamics; pathogen vector; MLST typing; Wolbachia supergroups

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Insect Science

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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