Wolbachia infection inWest Nile Virus vectors of northwest Iran

Mosquito-borne viral diseases are serious health problems in many countries. Various methods have been used for control-
ling the vectors of these diseases. Among symbiotic bacteria, the members of the genus Wolbachia are the most ubiquitous
symbionts of arthropods and play key roles in their host biological characteristics with various effects on their hosts. The
identification of these bacteria in Iranian mosquitoes is limited to a few studies. The current study was carried out to deter-
mine (1) the Wolbachia infection of probable arbovirus vectors (Aedes caspius, Culex pipiens, Culex theileri and Culiseta
longiareolata), (2) the Wolbachia strain(s) infecting the mosquitoes, and (3) the geographical distribution of the Wolbachia
strain(s) in the northwest of Iran. Eight species including Ae. caspius, Anopheles hyrcanus, An. maculipennis, Cx. hortensis,
Cx. modestus, Cx. pipiens, Cx. theileri, and Cs. longiareolata were identified, amongst which Ae. caspius with 63.1% and
An. hyrcanus with 0.3% were the most and the least abundant species, respectively. The results of semi-nested PCR using
Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) fragment assays showed that Wolbachia infection was present in three out of the four above
mentioned arboviral vector species (Aedes caspius, Culex pipiens, Culex theileri and Culiseta longiareolata), where the
highest infection rate was seen in Cx. pipiens. The infection rates of mosquitoes with Wolbachia in the species of Cx. pipiens,
Cs. longiareolata, Cx. theileri, and Ae. caspius were 96.9%, 11.5%, 5.2% and 0%, respectively.