Entomology, Ornithology & Herpetology: Current Research
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0983
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-0983
+44 1478 350008
Stella Noguera Pereira, Fábio de Almeida and Lincoln Suesdek
Posters: Entomol Ornithol Herpetol
Mosquitoes of the family Culicidae are epidemiologically relevant owing to their vectorial capacity for several human/ animal pathogens. The urban park ?Parque Ecológico do Tietê? (PET) is unique epidemiological scenario in São Paulo city (Brazil): Owing to the fact that the park harbours dozens of mosquito species, the thousands of leisure tourists that visit the park weekly are under risk of infection by insect-borne pathogens. In an attempt to enrich the basic knowledge on culicids from PET and to help the development of new strategies to control those mosquitoes, we investigated the presence of Wolbachia in those mosquitoes. The bacteria Wolbachia are vertically-transmitted obligatory endosymbionts of arthropods and nematodes. Owing to its capability of altering the reproduction and other physiological features of its hosts, Wolbachia has been proposed as a ?biological tool? to control Culicidae vectors. We detected the presence of Wolbachia using the amplification and sequencing of the bacterial genes: wsp and 16S rDNA. Seven species (73% of the 216 individual mosquitoes) were infected by Wolbachia , including some abundant species of Aedes and Culex . Phylogenetic tree of the Wolbachia we found (based on 16S) was not congruent to the phylogeny of its respective culicid hosts, revealing that bacteria and hosts have not followed the same evolutionary history. In addition, the high similarity among 16S sequences lead us to hypothesize that Wolbachia transmission in the culicid community of PET is primarily horizontal. If correctly interpreted, this pattern may be suitable for paratransgenesis to reach several species simultaneously.
Stella Noguera Pereira graduated in São Camilo University (São Paulo, Brazil). Present work comprises partial results of her Scientific Iniciation degree which is under development at Butantan Institute (Brazil).