{"doi":"10.12688/gatesopenres.13347.1","title":"Environmental factors influence the local establishment of Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in two small communities in central Vietnam","abstract":"<ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Background:</ns4:bold> The <ns4:italic>w</ns4:italic> Mel strain of <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> has been successfully introduced into <ns4:italic>Aedes aegypti</ns4:italic> mosquitoes and subsequently shown to reduce transmission of dengue and other pathogens, under both laboratory and field conditions. Here we describe the entomological outcomes of <ns4:italic>w</ns4:italic> Mel <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> mosquito releases in two small communities in Nha Trang City in central Vietnam. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Methods:</ns4:bold> The <ns4:italic>w</ns4:italic> Mel strain of <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> was backcrossed into local <ns4:italic>Aedes aegypti</ns4:italic> genotype and mosquito releases were undertaken by community members or by staff. Field monitoring was undertaken to track <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> establishment in local <ns4:italic>Ae. aegypti</ns4:italic> mosquito populations. Ecological studies were undertaken to assess relationships between environmental factors and the spatial and temporal variability in <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> infection prevalence in mosquitoes. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Results:</ns4:bold> Releases of <ns4:italic>w</ns4:italic> Mel <ns4:italic>Wolbachia Ae. aegypti</ns4:italic> mosquitoes in two small communities in Nha Trang City resulted in the initial establishment of <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> in the local <ns4:italic>Ae. aegypti</ns4:italic> mosquito populations, followed by seasonal fluctuations in <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> prevalence. There was significant small-scale spatial heterogeneity in <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> infection prevalence in the Tri Nguyen Village site, resulting in the loss of <ns4:italic>w</ns4:italic> Mel <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> infection in mosquitoes in north and center areas, despite <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> prevalence remaining high in mosquitoes in the south area. In the second site, Vinh Luong Ward, <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> has persisted at a high level in mosquitoes throughout this site despite similar seasonal fluctuations in <ns4:italic>w</ns4:italic> Mel <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> prevalence. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Conclusion:</ns4:bold> Seasonal variation in <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> infection prevalence in mosquitoes was associated with elevated temperature conditions, and was possibly due to imperfect maternal transmission of <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> . Heterogeneity in <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> infection prevalence was found throughout one site, and indicates additional factors may influence <ns4:italic>Wolbachia</ns4:italic> establishment. </ns4:p>","journal":"Gates Open Research","year":2021,"id":154126,"datarank":2.3526540661364144,"base_score":4.189654742026425,"endowment":4.189654742026425,"self_citation_contribution":0.6284482113039639,"citation_network_contribution":1.7242058548324506,"self_endowment_contribution":0.6284482113039639,"citer_contribution":1.7242058548324506,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":65,"citer_count":59,"citers_with_citation_signal":49,"citers_with_endowment":49,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9592,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"figshare":["10.6084/m9.figshare.15070803.v1"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":496721,"name":"Đặng Đức Anh","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":653414,"name":"Nguyen Hoang Le","orcid":"0000-0002-1550-2703","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":653415,"name":"Nguyen T. Yen","orcid":"0009-0006-6238-3600","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654362,"name":"Trần Vũ Phong","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":510615,"name":"Vũ Sinh Nam","orcid":"0000-0003-0679-1774","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":653416,"name":"Trần Như Dương","orcid":"0000-0002-6210-5399","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654363,"name":"Nguyen B. Nguyen","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654364,"name":"Duong T.T. Huong","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654365,"name":"Luu Q. Hung","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654366,"name":"Chau N.T. Trinh","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":653417,"name":"Nguyễn Viết Hoàng","orcid":"0000-0002-5525-1400","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654367,"name":"Vien Q. Mai","orcid":null,"position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654368,"name":"Lê Trung Nghĩa","orcid":null,"position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654369,"name":"Nguyễn Thành Đông","orcid":null,"position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654370,"name":"Le Huu Tho","orcid":null,"position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":621327,"name":"Simon C. Kutcher","orcid":"0000-0002-5297-4435","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":239000,"name":"Tim Hurst","orcid":null,"position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":621328,"name":"Jacqui Montgomery","orcid":"0000-0003-3404-9024","position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654371,"name":"Megan Woolfit","orcid":null,"position":19,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654372,"name":"Edwige Rancès","orcid":null,"position":20,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654373,"name":"Le Nguyen","orcid":null,"position":21,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":239002,"name":"Jack Brown-Kenyon","orcid":null,"position":22,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654374,"name":"Angela Caird","orcid":null,"position":23,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654375,"name":"Breeanna J. McLean","orcid":null,"position":24,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654376,"name":"Iñaki Iturbe‐Ormaetxe","orcid":null,"position":25,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":236820,"name":"Scott A. Ritchie","orcid":"0000-0003-2764-911X","position":26,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":236825,"name":"Scott L. O’Neill","orcid":"0000-0002-4131-3615","position":27,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":87639,"name":"Peter A. Ryan","orcid":"0000-0003-0674-4441","position":28,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":386602,"name":"Nguyễn Trần Hiển","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":66,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:43:49.684414Z","pmid":"35602266","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}