Transgenic expression of cif genes from Wolbachia strain w AlbB recapitulates cytoplasmic incompatibility in Aedes aegypti

McNamara, Cameron J., Ant, Thomas H., Harvey-Samuel, Tim, White-Cooper, Helen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3373-8023, Martinez, Julien, Alphey, Luke and Sinkins, Steven P. 2024. Transgenic expression of cif genes from Wolbachia strain w AlbB recapitulates cytoplasmic incompatibility in Aedes aegypti. Nature Communications 15 , 869. 10.1038/s41467-024-45238-7

	PDF - Supplemental Material Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (354kB)
	PDF - Supplemental Material Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (112kB)
	PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB)

Abstract

The endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia can invade insect populations by modifying host reproduction through cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), an effect that results in embryonic lethality when Wolbachia-carrying males mate with Wolbachia-free females. Here we describe a transgenic system for recreating CI in the major arbovirus vector Aedes aegypti using CI factor (cif) genes from wAlbB, a Wolbachia strain currently being deployed to reduce dengue transmission. CI-like sterility is induced when cifA and cifB are co-expressed in testes; this sterility is rescued by maternal cifA expression, thereby reproducing the pattern of Wolbachia-induced CI. Expression of cifB alone is associated with extensive DNA damage and disrupted spermatogenesis. The strength of rescue by maternal cifA expression is dependent on the comparative levels of cifA/cifB expression in males. These findings are consistent with CifB acting as a toxin and CifA as an antitoxin, with CifA attenuating CifB toxicity in both the male germline and in developing embryos. These findings provide important insights into the interactions between cif genes and their mechanism of activity and provide a foundation for the building of a cif gene-based drive system in Ae. aegypti.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2041-1723
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 January 2024
Date of Acceptance:	16 January 2024
Last Modified:	23 Feb 2024 15:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/165921

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item