Evaluation of Mosquito Densoviruses for Controlling Aedes aegypti

Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 78(5), 2008, pp. 784–790

Evaluation of Mosquito Densoviruses for Controlling Aedes aegypti (Diptera:Culicidae): Variation in Efficiency due to Virus Strain and Geographic Originof Mosquitoes


Abstract. Four mosquito densovirus strains were assayed for mortality and infectivity against Aedes aegypti larvaefrom different geographic regions. The viral titers were quantified by real-time PCR using TaqMan technology. Firstinstarlarvae were exposed to the same titer of each densovirus strain for 48 hours. All strains of densoviruses exhibitedlarvicidal activity and caused more than 80% mortality and infectivity in the three mosquito strains. AalDNV-exposedlarvae had the highest mortality rate. The mean time to death of AalDNV-exposed larvae was shorter than otherDNVs-exposed larvae. We can conclude that different densovirus strains exhibit some variations in their pathogenicityto different populations of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. A few mosquitoes from Chachoengsao and Bangkok exposed toAeDNV and AThDNV survived to the adult stage to lay eggs and showed 22% to 50% vertical transmission in the F1generation. Phylogenetic analysis of four densovirus strains indicated that mosquito densoviruses are separated into twodistinct clades.