Detection and phylogeny of<i>Wolbachia</i>in field-collected<i>Aedes albopictus</i>and<i>Aedes aegypti</i>from Manila City, Philippines

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>is the most common bacterial endosymbiont of arthropods, such as the medically important<jats:italic>Aedes albopictus</jats:italic>and recent reports also detected in<jats:italic>Aedes aegypti</jats:italic>. Our study showed additional support for the presence of wolbachia in<jats:italic>Ae. albopictus</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Ae. aegypti</jats:italic>using Wolbachia specific markers,<jats:italic>wsp</jats:italic>, and 16S.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Main text</jats:title><jats:p>This study collected 12 adult<jats:italic>Ae. albopictus</jats:italic>and 359<jats:italic>Ae. aegypti</jats:italic>from 183 households in a dengue-prone area, Manila, Philippines, between June and September 2017.<jats:italic>Aedes</jats:italic>larvae (n = 509) were also collected from 17 water containers from 11 households. The DNA of the<jats:italic>Aedes</jats:italic>larvae and adults were screened for the presence of<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>using the<jats:italic>wsp</jats:italic>and 16S markers, following optimized polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions, and sequenced. Our results showed that 3 out of 359 (0.84%) adult<jats:italic>Ae. aegypti</jats:italic>and 12 out of 12 (100%) adult<jats:italic>Ae. albopictus</jats:italic>were<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>positive, whereas all larvae tested negative for<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>(0/509; 0%). The<jats:italic>wsp</jats:italic>marker revealed six<jats:italic>Wolbachia-</jats:italic>positive<jats:italic>Ae. albopictus</jats:italic>, whereas the 16S marker showed<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>in three<jats:italic>Ae. aegypti</jats:italic>and ten<jats:italic>Ae. albopictus</jats:italic></jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Our results suggest that the utilization of two Wolbachia specific markers,<jats:italic>wsp</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>16S</jats:italic>demonstrated Wolbachia presence in individual<jats:italic>Ae. albopictus</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Ae. aegypti</jats:italic>. The results of the Wolbachia infection in<jats:italic>Ae. albopictus</jats:italic>showed that the detected strains were from either supergroups A and B. Despite the low infection rate of Wolbachia in<jats:italic>Ae. aegypti,</jats:italic>our results demonstrated the presence of Wolbachia in field-collected<jats:italic>Ae. aegypti</jats:italic>supporting previous studies.</jats:p></jats:sec>