1.Preliminary short-term establishment and replication kinetics of a flea-derived Wolbachia strain in an Aedes albopictus cell line
Bahrain N.N.K ; Hassandarvish, P. ; Loong S.K. ; Husin N.A. ; Zulkifli M.M.S. ; Khoo J.J. ; Bell-Sakyi L. ; Ya&rsquo ; cob Z. ; AbuBakar S. ; Low V.L. ; Sahimin N.
Tropical Biomedicine 2026;43(No. 2):198-206
Mosquito-borne arboviral diseases such as dengue and chikungunya have continuously been a major
global public health concern. Introducing the intracellular bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia into
mosquito populations has been proven to reduce dengue virus transmission, and its broader efficacy
against other arboviruses has also been investigated. Several Wolbachia strains have been successfully
propagated in insect cell lines, highlighting the utility of in vitro systems for studying microbial-host
interactions under controlled conditions. This study investigated the initial establishment and replication
kinetics of a flea-derived Wolbachia strain (wCfe), which was originally isolated from Malaysian
Ctenocephalides felis and maintained in the Ixodes scapularis tick-derived cell line (IDE8), and then
transferred into an Aedes albopictus-derived cell line (C6/36). The wCfe strain was semi-purified from
IDE8 cultures and inoculated into C6/36 cells in 24-well plates. Replication dynamics were monitored
by quantitative real-time PCR targeting the Wolbachia pipientis 16S rRNA gene. Following infection, a
lag phase was observed at day 0 to 5 days post-infection (d.p.i.), followed by exponential growth from
6 d.p.i. after which Wolbachia levels remained relatively stable until the end of the observation period
at 12 d.p.i. Overall, a 25.30-fold increase in Wolbachia density was detected relative to 0 d.p.i. Across
replicates, the estimated generation time of wCfe in C6/36 cells ranged from 1.7 to 2.5 days. These
results demonstrate successful initial establishment and replication of the flea-derived Wolbachia strain
in the Aedes mosquito cell line. However, longer-term in vivo studies will be necessary to determine
the persistence of wCfe infection in C6/36 cells and within the mosquito host.


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