Figures
Somatic Wolbachia infection in Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes visualized by fluorescence in situ hybridization.
The maternally inherited bacterium Wolbachia is of extreme interest as an agent to control malaria. In some mosquitoes, Wolbachia interferes with their ability to transmit vector-borne pathogens. Heritable Wolbachia infections are common in mosquitoes, but have never been established in the genus Anopheles. However, when injected into adults, Wolbachia is able to establish infection in Anopheles somatic tissues. In Anopheles, somatic Wolbachia infections suppress the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Some Wolbachia strains also induce mortality in infected blood-fed Anopheles. When stable maternally inherited infections are established in Anopheles mosquitoes, Wolbachia will have great promise as a potential agent to control malaria (see Hughes et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002043).
Image Credit: Ryuichi Koga, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Jason L. Rasgon, Johns Hopkins University
Citation: (2011) PLoS Pathogens Issue Image | Vol. 7(5) May 2011. PLoS Pathog 7(5): ev07.i05. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.ppat.v07.i05
Published: May 26, 2011
Copyright: © 2011 Koga, Rasgon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The maternally inherited bacterium Wolbachia is of extreme interest as an agent to control malaria. In some mosquitoes, Wolbachia interferes with their ability to transmit vector-borne pathogens. Heritable Wolbachia infections are common in mosquitoes, but have never been established in the genus Anopheles. However, when injected into adults, Wolbachia is able to establish infection in Anopheles somatic tissues. In Anopheles, somatic Wolbachia infections suppress the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Some Wolbachia strains also induce mortality in infected blood-fed Anopheles. When stable maternally inherited infections are established in Anopheles mosquitoes, Wolbachia will have great promise as a potential agent to control malaria (see Hughes et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002043).
Image Credit: Ryuichi Koga, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Jason L. Rasgon, Johns Hopkins University