Cold Tolerance of Native Wolbachia Endosymbiotes in Aedes Albopictus Larvae

This series of experiments will investigate the cold tolerance of native Wolbachia symbiotes in Aedes albopictus. Ae. albopictus will be exposed to a low temperature treatment at various life stages in order to see if low temperature affects the density of the native Wolbachia strains. qPCR will be used to generate density estimates of wAlbA and wAlbB in mosquito samples from four populations collected in the United States. These will be used to determine if there is a significant difference in due to cold treatment. This data is very useful and timely, as Wolbachia based vector control strategies are being developed to combat the spread of Ae. albopictus, and many of these will be deployed in regions which experience low temperature.