Wolbachia are maternally inherited bacteria that are commonly detected in approximately 50% of arthropod species, including mosquito vector species. Wolbachia were detected in different mosquito vectors, but in most malaria vectors, their occurrence in natural populations were reported 10 years ago. Aedes aegypti, the main vector of Dengue virus, is generally uninfected by Wolbachia, and records of infection are rare and only regard a few populations. This bacterium impacts the biology, ecology, and evolution of vector populations. Wolbachia have attracted considerable interest because of their role in reducing disease transmission. Moreover, this bacterium is known to manipulate insect reproduction by inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), thus providing new avenues for vector control strategies. Interestingly, wMel or wAlbB Wolbachia infections into Aedes populations exhibit a stable high frequency in most areas and contribute to the reduction of local dengue transmission. In natural populations of Anopheles, although Wolbachia was found, little is known about their role and effect on Plasmodium. If the incompatible insect technique (IIT) and population replacement strategy provided significant decreases in dengue transmission in some endemic country areas such as the USA, Taiwan, Australia and Brazil, natural Wolbachia detection in mosquitoes may threaten these vector control strategies, raising the following question" Do natural occurrence of Wolbachia in Anopheles sp. and Aedes aegypti populations compromise the success of the vector control strategies? This review presents recent achievements of Wolbachia in natural Anopheles and Aedes aegypti populations in terms of prevalence and provides guidelines for the development of Wolbachia-based vector control.

Wolbachia Aedes aegypti Anopheles sp Prevalence Incompatibility Cytoplasmic vector control