Biocontrol Of Asian Tiger Mosquito, Aedes Albopictus, Using Wolbachia Wpip To Induce Infertility Through Cytoplasmic Incompatibility

Aedes albopictus was firsT reported in Valencia (Eastern Spain) in 2015. Once its establishment was confirmed, several mosquito management actions were applied in order to minimize its impact, including routinely larvicide treatments in public city catch basins, attendance of citizen complaints linked to species activity, private areas’ inspections to eliminate domestic breeding sites, and campaigns of citizen awareness and environmental education. However, as in other affected Mediterranean cities, new innovative tools are needed to reduce nuisance and potential risks of arboviruses transmission. Among them, the use Wolbachia pipientis is considered a feasible approach. To reach this goal, several preliminary steps need to be performed, including (1) analysis of the presence of natural Wolbachia infection in local populations of Ae. albopictus; (2) establishment of a laboratory Ae. albopictus population free of Wolbachia; (3) characterization of Wolbachia wPip strains naturally infecting Culex pipiens in the Valencian area to identify the best strain to cause infertility due to cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI); (4) transfection of the Wolbachia-free Ae. albopictus population with selected Valencian Wolbachia wPip strains and determination of the CI effect when infected males mate with cured females. Here we present our latest achievements along the way to implement this strategy for Ae. albopictus suppression through massive release of males artificially infected with Wolbachia strains capable of inducing infertility due to CI.