Transcriptome of Aedes fluviatilis and transcriptional changes associated to native Wolbachia infection

Wolbachia is a bacterial endosymbiont that naturally infects a wide range of insect species, and causes drastic changes to host biology. Stable infections of Wolbachia in mosquitoes can inhibit infection with medically important pathogens such as Zika virus, dengue virus and malaria-causing Plasmodium parasites. However, some native Wolbachia strains can enhance infection with certain pathogens, as is the case for the mosquito Aedes fluviatilis where infection with Plasmodium gallinaceum is enhanced by the native wFlu Wolbachia strain. To better understand the biological interactions between mosquitoes and native Wolbachia infections, and to investigate the process of pathogen enhancement, we used RNAseq to generate the transcriptome of Ae. fluviatilis with and without Wolbachia infection.