Distribution and diversity of Wolbachia infections in southeast Asian mosquitoes (Diptera : Culicidea)

Wolbachia are a group of intracellular inherited bacteria that infect a wid e range of arthropods. They are associated with a variety of reproductive a lterations in their hosts, the best known being cytoplasmic incompatability . The Wolbachia pipientis assemblage has been divided into two major groups (A and B) and 12 subgroups. We report herein the first systematic survey o f Wolbachia in mosquitoes, and the first survey classifying Wolbachia infec tions by subgroup. Wolbachia were detected in 28.1% of 89 wild-caught mosqu ito species, based on a polymerase chain reaction assay using ftsZ and wsp, gene primers. Infections were found in all major disease vector genera exc ept Anopheles. Nine of the 12 Wolbachia subgroups were represented. Group B Wolbachia strains showed more phylogenetic concordance with their host tax a than group A strains. Of the 25 positive mosquito species, five were supe rinfected with group A bacteria strains (AA), eight were superinfected with A and B strains (AB), and one was superinfected with group B strains (BB). The widespread distribution of Wolbachia among mosquito species further su pports their potential importance in the genetic control of disease vectors .