Wolbachia: An evolutionary way to combat mosquito borne disease and the challenges in success of the strategy

Abstract

Wolbachia is an intracellular bacterium that is found in many insects and very commonly in Dipterans. It is now being extensively studied as it aids in suppression of mosquito populations. Mosquitoes are causative agents of many life-threatening diseases (dengue, malaria, chikungunya fever, Zika virus fever, yellow fever, West Nile fever), Japanese encephalitis and put immense burden on health systems of many countries. Wolbachia is known to block replication of several arboviruses. However, the exact mechanism how it does so is still under progress. It is transmitted vertically & alters host biology in several ways, one of the keys is cytoplasmic incompatibility, a trait which is used to suppress mosquito population by artificially introducing them into host. Here, in this review we will try to unravel the story of Wolbachia by looking into its role in manipulating host immune system and also how it became a miraculous weapon for controlling mosquito borne diseases, and also the challenges related to implication of this system.