Publications

wolbachia endosymbionts modify drosophila ovary protein levels in a context-dependent manner.	endosymbiosis is a unique form of interaction between organisms, with one organism dwelling inside the other. one of the most widespread endosymbionts is wolbachia pipientis, a maternally transmitted bacterium carried by insects, crustaceans, mites, and filarial nematodes. although candidate proteins that contribute to maternal transmission have been identified, the molecular basis for maternal wolbachia transmission remains largely unknown. to investigate transmission-related processes in respo ...	2016	27342560
rapid and non-destructive detection and identification of two strains of wolbachia in aedes aegypti by near-infrared spectroscopy.	the release of wolbachia infected mosquitoes is likely to form a key component of disease control strategies in the near future. we investigated the potential of using near-infrared spectroscopy (nirs) to simultaneously detect and identify two strains of wolbachia pipientis (wmelpop and wmel) in male and female laboratory-reared aedes aegypti mosquitoes. our aim is to find faster, cheaper alternatives for monitoring those releases than the molecular diagnostic techniques that are currently in us ...	2016	27362709
identification and characterization of a candidate wolbachia pipientis type iv effector that interacts with the actin cytoskeleton.	many bacteria live as intracellular symbionts, causing persistent infections within insects. one extraordinarily common infection is that of wolbachia pipientis, which infects 40% of insect species and induces reproductive effects. the bacteria are passed from generation to generation both vertically (through the oocyte) and horizontally (by environmental transmission). maintenance of the infection within drosophila melanogaster is sensitive to the regulation of actin, as wolbachia inefficiently ...	2016	27381293
chimeric coupling proteins mediate transfer of heterologous type iv effectors through the escherichia coli pkm101-encoded conjugation machine.	bacterial type iv secretion systems (t4sss) are composed of two major subfamilies, conjugation machines dedicated to dna transfer and effector translocators for protein transfer. we show here that the escherichia coli pkm101-encoded conjugation system, coupled with chimeric substrate receptors, can be repurposed for transfer of heterologous effector proteins. the chimeric receptors were composed of the n-terminal transmembrane domain of pkm101-encoded traj fused to soluble domains of vird4 homol ...	2016	27432829
genomes of candidatus wolbachia bourtzisii wdaca and candidatus wolbachia pipientis wdacb from the cochineal insect dactylopius coccus (hemiptera: dactylopiidae).	dactylopius species, known as cochineal insects, are the source of the carminic acid dye used worldwide. the presence of two wolbachia strains in dactylopius coccus from mexico was revealed by pcr amplification of wsp and sequencing of 16s rrna genes. a metagenome analysis recovered the genome sequences of candidatus wolbachia bourtzisii wdaca (supergroup a) and candidatus wolbachia pipientis wdacb (supergroup b). genome read coverage, as well as 16s rrna clone sequencing, revealed that wdacb wa ...	2016	27543297
near-infrared spectroscopy, a rapid method for predicting the age of male and female wild-type and wolbachia infected aedes aegypti.	estimating the age distribution of mosquito populations is crucial for assessing their capacity to transmit disease and for evaluating the efficacy of available vector control programs. this study reports on the capacity of the near-infrared spectroscopy (nirs) technique to rapidly predict the ages of the principal dengue and zika vector, aedes aegypti. the age of wild-type males and females, and males and females infected with wmel and wmelpop strains of wolbachia pipientis were characterized u ...	2016	27768689
downregulation of aedes aegypti chromodomain helicase dna binding protein 7/kismet by wolbachia and its effect on dengue virus replication.	dengue virus (denv) is a mosquito-transmitted virus imposing a significant burden on human health around the world. since current control strategies are not sufficient, there is an urgent need to find alternative methods to control denv transmission. it has been demonstrated that introduction of wolbachia pipientis in aedes aegypti mosquitoes can impede denv transmission with the mechanism(s) not fully understood. recently, a number of studies have found the involvement of chromodomain dna bindi ...	2016	27827425
zika control through the bacterium wolbachia pipientis.		2016	27831765
wolbachia-based dengue virus inhibition is not tissue-specific in aedes aegypti.	dengue fever, caused by the dengue virus (denv), is now the most common arbovirus transmitted disease globally. one novel approach to control denv is to use the endosymbiotic bacterium, wolbachia pipientis, to limit denv replication inside the primary mosquito vector, aedes aegypti. wolbachia that is naturally present in a range of insects reduces the capacity for viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi to replicate inside insects. wolbachia's mode of action is not well understood but may involve ...	2016	27855218
the re-emerging arboviral threat: hidden enemies: the emergence of obscure arboviral diseases, and the potential use of wolbachia in their control.	mayaro, oropouche, and o'nyong-nyong share many traits with more prominent arboviruses, like dengue and yellow fever, chikungunya, and zika. these include severe clinical symptoms, multiple animal hosts, and widespread vector species living in close proximity to human habitats, all of which constitute significant risk factors for more frequent outbreaks in the future, greatly increasing the potential of these hidden enemies to follow zika and become the next wave of global arboviral threats. cri ...	2017	28026036
the rnai pathway plays a small part in wolbachia-mediated blocking of dengue virus in mosquito cells.	wolbachia pipientis is an insect endosymbiont known to limit the replication of viruses including dengue and zika in their primary mosquito vector, aedes aegypti. wolbachia is being released into mosquito populations globally in a bid to control the diseases caused by these viruses. it is theorized that wolbachia's priming of the insect immune system may confer protection against subsequent viral infection. other hypotheses posit a role for competition between wolbachia and viruses for host cell ...	2017	28262718
incomplete removal of wolbachia with tetracycline has two-edged reproductive effects in the thelytokous wasp encarsia formosa (hymenoptera: aphelinidae).	wolbachia pipientis are intracellular endosymbionts that induce parthenogenesis in the parasitoid encarsia formosa. previous studies that focused on effects of wolbachia on the wasp usually used tetracycline to remove wolbachia without concern for the joint influences of tetracycline and wolbachia. here we treated the wasps (f0 lines) with tetracycline to produce offspring (f1 lines) which were not fed tetracycline to avoid antibiotic influence. the quantitative data and fluorescence in situ hyb ...	2017	28266601
proteomic analysis of a mosquito host cell response to persistent wolbachia infection.	wolbachia pipientis, an obligate intracellular bacterium associated with arthropods and filarial worms, is a target for filarial disease treatment and provides a gene drive agent for insect vector population suppression/replacement. we compared proteomes of aedes albopictus mosquito c/wstr1 cells persistently infected with wolbachia strain wstr, relative to uninfected c7-10 control cells. among approximately 2500 proteins, itraq data identified 815 differentially abundant proteins. as functional ...	2017	28435138
variable inhibition of zika virus replication by different wolbachia strains in mosquito cell cultures.	mosquito-borne arboviruses are a major source of human disease. one strategy to reduce arbovirus disease is to reduce the mosquito's ability to transmit virus. mosquito infection with the bacterial endosymbiont wolbachia pipientis wmel is a novel strategy to reduce aedes mosquito competency for flavivirus infection. however, experiments investigating cyclic environmental temperatures have shown a reduction in maternal transmission of wmel, potentially weakening the integration of this strain int ...	2017	28446677
enzymatic activity necessary to restore the lethality due to escherichia coli rnase e deficiency is distributed among bacteria lacking rnase e homologues.	escherichia coli rnase e (eco-rnase e), encoded by rne (eco-rne), is considered the global rna decay initiator. although eco-rnase e is an essential gene product in e. coli, some bacterial species, such as bacillus subtilis, do not possess eco-rnase e sequence homologues. b. subtilis instead possesses rnase j1/j2 (bsu-rnase j1/j2) and rnase y (bsu-rnase y) to execute rna decay. here we found that e. coli lacking the eco-rne gene (δrne e. coli) was viable conditional on m9 minimal media by introd ...	2017	28542621
evolution of incompatibility-inducing microbes and their hosts.	in many insect species, males infected with microbes related to wolbachia pipientis are "incompatible" with uninfected females. crosses between infected males and uninfected females produce significantly fewer adult progeny than the other three possible crosses. the incompatibility-inducing microbes are usually maternally transmitted. thus, incompatibility tends to confer a reproductive advantage on infected females in polymorphic populations, allowing these infections to spread. this paper anal ...	1994	28568404
life-history adaptation and reproductive isolation in a grasshopper hybrid zone.	patterns of life-history adaptation and reproductive isolation were investigated in the acridid grasshoppers melanoplus sanguinipes and m. devastator, which hybridize along an altitudinal gradient in the sierra nevada of california. melanoplus sanguinipes females crossed with m. devastator males produced eggs that were approximately half as viable as eggs from other crosses. diminished viability was not attributable either to infection by wolbachia pipientis or to failure of sperm transfer. when ...	1996	28568927
cytonuclear epistasis controls the density of symbiont wolbachia pipientis in nongonadal tissues of mosquito culex quinquefasciatus.	wolbachia pipientis, a bacterial symbiont infecting arthropods and nematodes, is vertically transmitted through the female germline and manipulates its host's reproduction to favor infected females. wolbachia also infects somatic tissues where it can cause nonreproductive phenotypes in its host, including resistance to viral pathogens. wolbachia-mediated phenotypes are strongly associated with the density of wolbachia in host tissues. little is known, however, about how wolbachia density is regu ...	2017	28606944
wolbachia elevates host methyltransferase expression to block an rna virus early during infection.	wolbachia pipientis is an intracellular endosymbiont known to confer host resistance against rna viruses in insects. however, the causal mechanism underlying this antiviral defense remains poorly understood. to this end, we have established a robust arthropod model system to study the tripartite interaction involving sindbis virus and wolbachia strain wmel within its native host, drosophila melanogaster. by leveraging the power of drosophila genetics and a parallel, highly tractable d. melanogas ...	2017	28617844
the impact of wolbachia infection on the rate of vertical transmission of dengue virus in brazilian aedes aegypti.	wolbachia pipientis is a common endosymbiotic bacterium of arthropods that strongly inhibits dengue virus (denv) infection and transmission in the primary vector, the mosquito aedes aegypti. for that reason, wolbachia-infected ae. aegypti are currently being released into the field as part of a novel strategy to reduce denv transmission. however, there is evidence that denv can be transmitted vertically from mother to progeny, and this may help the virus persist in nature in the absence of regul ...	2017	28623959
wolbachia infection in aedes aegypti mosquitoes alters blood meal excretion and delays oviposition without affecting trypsin activity.	blood feeding in aedes aegypti is essential for reproduction, but also permits the mosquito to act as a vector for key human pathogens such as the zika and dengue viruses. wolbachia pipientis is an endosymbiotic bacterium that can manipulate the biology of aedes aegypti mosquitoes, making them less competent hosts for many pathogens. yet while wolbachia affects other aspects of host physiology, it is unclear whether it influences physiological processes associated with blood meal digestion. to t ...	2017	28655666
wolbachia in the genus bicyclus: a forgotten player.	bicyclus butterflies are key species for studies of wing pattern development, phenotypic plasticity, speciation and the genetics of lepidoptera. one of the key endosymbionts in butterflies, the alpha-proteobacterium wolbachia pipientis, is affecting many of these biological processes; however, bicyclus butterflies have not been investigated systematically as hosts to wolbachia. in this study, we screen for wolbachia infection in several bicyclus species from natural populations across africa as ...	2017	28702705
wolbachia and dengue virus infection in the mosquito aedes fluviatilis (diptera: culicidae).	dengue represents a serious threat to human health, with billions of people living at risk of the disease. wolbachia pipientis is a bacterial endosymbiont common to many insect species. wolbachia transinfections in mosquito disease vectors have great value for disease control given the bacterium's ability to spread into wild mosquito populations, and to interfere with infections of pathogens, such as dengue virus. aedes fluviatilis is a mosquito with a widespread distribution in latin america, b ...	2017	28732048
artificial acceleration of mammalian cell reprogramming by bacterial proteins.	the molecular mechanisms of cell reprogramming and differentiation involve various signaling factors. small molecule compounds have been identified to artificially influence these factors through interacting cellular proteins. although such small molecule compounds are useful to enhance reprogramming and differentiation and to show the mechanisms that underlie these events, the screening usually requires a large number of compounds to identify only a very small number of hits (e.g., one hit amon ...	2017	28776863
molecular detection of wolbachia pipientis in natural populations of sandfly vectors of leishmania infantum in endemic areas: first detection in lutzomyia longipalpis.	a polymerase chain reaction-based method was used to screen sandflies for infection with wolbachia (rickettsiales: rickettsiaceae), an intracellular bacterial endosymbiont found in many arthropods and filarial hosts. positive results were obtained in five of 200 field-collected sandflies and were confirmed by sequencing. all sandflies were lutzomyia longipalpis (diptera: psychodidae) captured in a region endemic for visceral leishmaniasis in brazil. this is the first study to identify wolbachia ...	2017	28799248
wolbachia-mediated virus blocking in the mosquito vector aedes aegypti.	viruses transmitted by mosquitoes such as dengue, zika and west nile cause a threat to global health due to increased geographical range and frequency of outbreaks. the bacterium wolbachia pipientis may be the solution reducing disease transmission. though commonly missing in vector species, the bacterium was artificially and stably introduced into aedes aegypti to assess its potential for biocontrol. when infected with wolbachia, mosquitoes become refractory to infection by a range of pathogens ...	2017	28805637
large-scale identification of wolbachia pipientis effectors.	wolbachia pipientis is an intracellular symbiont of arthropods well known for the reproductive manipulations induced in the host and, more recently, for the ability of wolbachia to block virus replication in insect vectors. since wolbachia cannot yet be genetically manipulated, and due to the constraints imposed when working with an intracellular symbiont, little is known about mechanisms used by wolbachia for host interaction. here we employed a bioinformatics pipeline and identified 163 candid ...	2017	28854601