Autor(es): Slatko Barton E, Luck Ashley N, Dobson Stephen L, Foster Jeremy M

Resumo: Most human filarial nematode parasites - arthropods are hosts for a bacterial endosymbiont, Wolbachia. In filaria, Wolbachia are required for normal development, fertility - survival, whereas in arthropods, they are largely parasitic - can influence development - reproduction, but are generally not required for host survival. Due to their obligate nature in filarial parasites, Wolbachia have been a target for drug discovery initiatives using several approaches including diversity - focused library screening - genomic sequence analysis. In vitro - in vivo anti-Wolbachia antibiotic treatments have been shown to have adulticidal activity, a long sought goal of filarial parasite drug discovery. In mosquitoes, it has been shown that the presence of Wolbachia can inhibit the transmission of certain viruses, such as Dengue, Chikungunya, Yellow Fever, West Nile, as well as the infectivity of the malaria-causing protozoan, Plasmodium - filarial nematodes. Furthermore, Wolbachia can cause a form of conditional sterility that can be used to suppress populations of mosquitoes - additional medically important insects. Thus Wolbachia, a p-emic endosymbiont offers great potential for elimination of a wide-variety of devastating human diseases.

Palavras-Chave: Arthropod; Chikungunya virus; Dengue virus; Drug discovery; Endosymbiont; Filariasis; Symbiosis; West Nile virus; Wolbachia; Yellow Fever virus

Imprenta: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, v. 195, n. 2, p. 88-95, 2014

Identificador do objeto digital: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2014.07.004

Descritores: Chikungunya virus - Genome ; Chikungunya virus - Pathogenesis ; Chikungunya virus - Viral infections ; Chikungunya Virus - Virus ; Chikungunya virus - Molecular screening ; Chikungunya virus - Transmission ; Chikungunya virus - Chikungunya fever ; Chikungunya virus - Dengue

Data de publicação: 2014

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