Wolbachia

Accumulating lipids may be Wolbachia bacteria’s secret weapon for decreasing viral transmission.

Pregnant mosquito females deploy the microbe Elizabethkingia to speed larval growth; the larvae, in turn, help the bacteria outcompete other strains.

Randomized, controlled research conducted in an Indonesian city confirms the reduction in cases seen with previous observational work.

Cases of dengue were greatly reduced in areas of a city where Wolbachia-infected mosquitos were released, according to preliminary data from a field study.

Aedes aegypti infected with Wolbachia—which inhibit transmission of the dengue virus from insect to human—were deployed in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, and Australia.

Researchers use two techniques—Wolbachia infection and irradiation—to suppress reproduction in populations of Asian tiger mosquitoes at two study sites in China.

The US government has approved the deployment of the lab-raised insects to eliminate the Zika- and dengue-transmitting Asian tiger mosquito.

The bacterium causes eggs to die, and spreading treated insects is expected to curb Aedes aegypti populations.

Scientists identify the genes responsible for bacteria-controlled sterility in arthropods.

Infected with Wolbachia, the insects are expected to reduce the spread of dengue and Zika. But scientists say the approach may have limitations.

In the DNA of the WO phage, which infects arthropod-inhabiting Wolbachia, researchers find sequences related to a black widow spider’s toxin and other animal genes.

Bacteria inhabit most tissues in the human body, and genes from some of these microbes have made their way to the human genome. Could this genetic transfer contribute to diseases such as cancer?

DNA transfer is a regular event among bacteria, and research over the past decade has shown that microbes can also shuttle their genetic material to multicellular hosts.

A team of scientists confirm Wolbachia can prevent mosquitoes from transmitting the virus, while another group finds a reliable way to detect the bacteria.

Infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia greatly reduces the insects’ abilities to transmit the virus.

Researchers pinpoint microRNAs that could play a role in how Wolbachia bacteria manipulate their arthropod hosts.

Telomeres and disease; Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes may fight malaria; bat tongue mops nectar; newly sequenced genomes

Artificially induced bacterial infections in mosquitoes could reduce the spread of malaria-causing parasites.

The widespread bacteria known to manipulate host reproductive output can do so by ramping up stem cell division and consequent egg production in Drosophila.