Host age effect and expression of cytoplasmic incompatibility in field populations of Wolbachia-superinfected Aedes albopictus

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse), is a known vector of dengue in South America and Southeast Asia. It is naturally superinfected with two strains of Wolbachia endosymbiont that are able to induce cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). In this paper, we report the strength of CI expression in crosses involving field-caught males. Cl expression was found to be very strong in all crosses between field males and laboratory-reared uninfected or wAIbA infected young females. In addition, crossing experiments with laboratory colonies showed that aged superinfected males could express strong Cl when mated with young uninfected or wAlbA infected females. These results provide additional evidence that the Cl proper-des of Wolbachia infecting Aedes albopictus are well suited for applied strategies that seek to utilise Wolbachia for host population modification.