Releasing incompatible males drives strong suppression across populations of wild and <i>Wolbachia</i> -carrying <i>Aedes aegypti</i> in Australia
Nigel W. Beebe, Dan Pagendam, Brendan Trewin, Andrew Boomer, Matt Bradford, Andrew Ford, Catherine Liddington, Artiom Bondarenco, Paul J. De Barro, Joshua Gilchrist, Christopher J. Paton, Kyran M. Staunton, Brian J. Johnson, Andrew J. Maynard, Gregor J. Devine, Leon E. Hugo, Gordana Rašić, Helen Cook, Peter Massaro, Nigel Snoad, Jacob E. Crawford, Bradley J. White, Zhiyong Xi, Scott A. Ritchie
Abstract
Significance With over 40% of humans at risk from mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika, the development of environmentally friendly mosquito-control tools is critical. The release of reproductively incompatible male mosquitoes carrying a Wolbachia bacterium can drive mating events that kill the eggs. Through replicated treatment and control experiments in northern Australia, regular releases of Aedes aegypti males infected with a Wolbachia from Aedes albopictus was shown to drive strong population suppression in mosaic populations of wild-type (no Wolbachia ) and w Mel- Wolbachia –carrying Ae. aegypti . In a demonstration of bidirectional incompatibility between different Wolbachia strains in the field, we also demonstrate that one season’s suppression experiment can also show an ongoing effect into the following season.