Detection of Wolbachia in field-collected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Recent reports have disclosed the occurrence of Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti. Our study detected Wolbachia infection in Ae. aegypti by screening wild adult mosquitoes using two Wolbachia-specific molecular markers. Overall, 444 adult Ae. aegypti mosquitoes were collected from April 2022 to October 2022 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Each individual sample was processed and screened for the presence of Wolbachia using selected markers, the Wolbachia-specific 16S rDNA and the Wolbachia surface protein gene (wsp), under optimized polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions, and sequenced. In total, 39 (8.78%) and 48 (10.81%) individual mosquito samples were determined to be infected with Wolbachia using the wsp and 16S rDNA markers, respectively. By utilizing two Wolbachia-specific molecular markers, our study demonstrated the presence of Wolbachia from individual Ae. aegypti samples. Our results showed a low rate of Wolbachia infection and inferred that the detected strain belongs to supergroup B.