Matthew Zuniga | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: Matthew Zuniga
Title: Transmission of Wolbachia in Culex Mosquitoes
Major: Biology
Minor: Anthropology
Advisors: Ferdinand Nanfack Minkeu; Erzsébet Regan

Wolbachia is an endosymbiotic bacterium that are present in many insect species around the globe. Wolbachia’s ability to interfere with the replication of pathogens in insects has been a topic of interest in many scientific research, especially in Mosquito-borne diseases research. Mosquito-borne diseases are a serious public health threat because of how widespread the mosquito species is, leading to millions of deaths annually. This has led to the use of Wolbachia as a form of biopesticide to control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases in the population of Culex and Anopheles, which are the primary mosquito species that transmit diseases to humans. Although Wolbachia’s ability to interfere with the replication of pathogens is heavily researched, the mechanism of the transmission of Wolbachia in mosquitoes is not well documented. To gain a better understanding of the transmission of Wolbachia in mosquito species, Culex samples were collected in Wooster, Ohio, to determine if transstadial transmission was shown in Culex samples and, if so, to also determine the Wolbachia density in different life stages of Culex. DNA isolation was used to acquire Culex DNA, and QPCR was performed to identify Wolbachia in adult and larva Culex samples. Wolbachia prevalence was shown in 64% of adult samples and 50% in the Culex larva samples. A p-value of 0.028 showed a significant difference in Wolbachia density in adult and larval samples. These results would confirm the vertical transmission of Wolbachia in mosquitoes and suggest that Wolbachia can vary in different live stages of Culex.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.