A
w
AlbB
Wolbachia
transinfection displays stable phenotypic effects across divergent
Aedes aegypti
mosquito backgrounds
Aedes mosquitoes harboring intracellular Wolbachia bacteria are being released in arbovirus and mosquito control programs. With releases taking place around the world, understanding the contribution of host variation to Wolbachia phenotype is crucial. We generated a Wolbachia transinfection ( w AlbB Q ) in Aedes aegypti and performed backcrossing to introduce the infection into Australian or Malaysian nuclear backgrounds. Whole Wolbachia genome sequencing shows that the w AlbB Q transinfection is near-identical to the reference w AlbB genome, suggesting few changes since the infection was first introduced to Ae. aegypti over 15 years ago. However, these sequences were distinct from other available w AlbB genome sequences, highlighting the potential diversity of w AlbB in natural Ae. albopictus populations. Phenotypic comparisons demonstrate effects of w AlbB infection on egg hatch and nuclear background on fecundity and body size, but no interactions between w AlbB infection and nuclear background for any trait. The w AlbB infection was stable at high temperatures and showed perfect maternal transmission and cytoplasmic incompatibility regardless of host background. Our results demonstrate the stability of w AlbB across host backgrounds and point to its long-term effectiveness for controlling arbovirus transmission and mosquito populations. Importance Wolbachia bacteria are being used to control the transmission of dengue and other arboviruses by mosquitoes. For Wolbachia release programs to be effective globally, Wolbachia infections must be stable across mosquito populations from different locations. In this study, we transferred Wolbachia (strain w AlbB) to Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with an Australian genotype and introduced the infection to Malaysian mosquitoes through backcrossing. We found that the phenotypic effects of Wolbachia are stable across both mosquito backgrounds. We sequenced the genome of w AlbB and found very few genetic changes despite spending over 15 years in a novel mosquito host. Our results suggest that the effects of Wolbachia infections are likely to remain stable across time and host genotype.