The Great Potential of Entomopathogenic Bacteria
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da Silva et al. Parasites Vectors (2020) 13:376 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-04236-6 Parasites & Vectors REVIEW Open Access The great potential of entomopathogenic bacteria Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus for mosquito control: a review Wellington Junior da Silva1, Harry Luiz Pilz‑Júnior1, Ralf Heermann2* and Onilda Santos da Silva1* Abstract The control of insects of medical importance, such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are still the only efec‑ tive way to prevent the transmission of diseases, such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Their control is performed mainly using chemical products; however, they often have low specifcity to non‑target organisms, including humans. Also, studies have reported resistance to the most commonly used insecticides, such as the organophosphate and pyrethroids. Biological control is an ecological and sustainable method since it has a slow rate of insect resistance development. Bacterial species of the genera Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus have been the target of several research groups worldwide, aiming at their use in agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial products. This review highlights articles referring to the use of Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus for insects and especially for mosquito control propos‑ ing future ways for their biotechnological applicability. Approximately 24 species of Xenorhabdus and fve species of Photorhabdus have been described to have insecticidal properties. These studies have shown genes that are capable of encoding low molecular weight proteins, secondary toxin complexes and metabolites with insecticide activities, as well as antibiotic, fungicidal and antiparasitic molecules. In addition, several species of Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus showed insecticidal properties against mosquitoes. Therefore, these biological agents can be used in new control methods, and must be, urgently considered in short term, in studies and applications, especially in mosquito control. Keywords: Entomopathogenic bacteria, Aedes aegypti, Mosquito‑borne arboviruses, Xenorhabdus nematophila, Photorhabdus luminescens, Biological control Background Te presence of chikungunya virus has been notifed in It is widely known that various species of mosquitoes more than 45 countries, highlighting the epidemic that can transmit pathogens that cause debilitating injuries occurred in India in 2005 with 1015 confrmed cases [4]. in world populations, often endangering the lives of mil- In Brazil, the frst autochthonous cases were reported in lions of people. Among the mosquito-borne viruses are September 2014, with subsequent emergence of cases dengue, chikungunya [1], West Nile virus, yellow fever in several regions, in a short period of time [5]. In 2016, [2] and Zika [3]. 63,810 cases of chikungunya were confrmed in this country [6]. West Nile fever virus was frst isolated in 1937 from *Correspondence: heermann@uni‑mainz.de; [email protected] an infected person in Uganda, Africa [7]. After that, spo- 1 Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Institute radic transmission was observed in more temperate parts of Basic Health Sciences, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua of Europe and endemic in tropical areas of Africa, north- Sarmento Leite 500, Porto Alegre, RS 90050‑170, Brazil 2 Institut für Molekulare Physiologie, Mikrobiologie und Weinforschung, ern Australia and South Asia. Te virus was introduced in Johannes‑Gutenberg‑Universität Mainz, Johann‑Joachim‑Becher‑Weg 13, North America in 1999, which spread and became a public 55128 Mainz, Germany health problem [8]. After its introduction in America, in © The Author(s) 2020. 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The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creat iveco mmons .org/publi cdoma in/ zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. da Silva et al. Parasites Vectors (2020) 13:376 Page 2 of 14 2010 approximately 1.8 million people have been infected, mosquito-borne diseases is an important goal for global resulting in 1308 deaths [9]. public health agencies [26]. For the control of culicids Since 2016 there has been the re-emergence of the Zika several methods have been used, which result in reduc- virus, with outbreaks of transmission by mosquitoes, caus- tion of population density, reduction of life span, or ing a threat to public health worldwide [3, 10–14]. Regard- impediment of contact with the use of repellent com- ing dengue virus, it is expanding globally, being present in pounds [30]. more than 100 countries [15], with about 2.5 billion peo- Te methods for genetic control are in the study phase ple living in an infection risk area [16–18]. Currently this for Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti, also requiring consid- virus is found on all continents [13, 18]. Because of this erations on the possibility of its implementation [30–32]. global viral spread, dengue has become an important pub- Tus, chemical control is generally considered the frst lic health problem [15, 19], being a threat to approximately method of choice [27]. 390 million people [3, 16]. In addition, several strategies for combating Aedes According to Laughlin et al. [19], considering compli- spp. have been used, such as the elimination of potential cations of dengue such as hemorrhagic fever and shock breeding sites, biological and chemical control with the syndrome, is among the most important re-emerging use of repellents (contact precaution) and application of infectious diseases in the world. Tis arbovirus is the one synthetic insecticides [14, 29, 30]. with the greatest impact on human morbidity and mortal- Among the most used compounds, organophosphates ity compared to other arboviruses [20] due to the high viru- (temephos and fenthion) and growth inhibitors (difuben- lence of the etiological agent [21]. Teir four viral serotypes zuron and methoprene) for larval control [14, 33–35]. can be transmitted by females of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes However, due to the high frequency of use of these com- (Diptera: Culicidae), and, to a lesser extent, Aedes albopic- pounds, several populations of Aedes spp. have become tus [3, 12, 14, 22]. resistant over the years [14, 26, 29, 36–38]. Aedes aegypti has a daylight hematophagous behav- Chemical control may have disadvantages, such as ior and is extremely anthropophilic and endophilic, often efects on non-target organisms, environmental pol- being found in urban and suburban environments, where lution, in addition to the development of insecticide the life-cycle occurs with great proximity to humans [23]. resistance [27, 39–43]. Furthermore, repeated doses and Female oviposition occurs preferably in clean water pre- high doses of chemical insecticides can cause an imbal- sent in artifcial containers [24]. Aedes albopictus, popularly ance between the culicid population and their natural known as the Asian tiger, is also a daylight hematophagous enemies, and also cause toxic efects on the environment mosquito, and can be found competing with Ae. aegypti in and small mammals that co-inhabit the surrounding area natural and artifcial containers outside of houses. Also, it [40]. Tus, it is necessary to reduce the use of chemicals has expanded its habitat to temperate areas in urbanized and develop ecological products for the control of vector regions due to intense climate change [18, 25]. mosquitoes [44]. Tese often-devastating arboviruses seem to continue to afect millions of people worldwide [26]. Terefore, vector Biological control of vectors control, whether in immature or adult stages, is a crucial Te nutrition source of Aedes larvae comes from decay- strategy for preventing the expansion of these diseases [26, ing organic matter, rich in bacteria, fungi and protozoa 27]. present in natural or unusual containers [45]. Some bac- For the production of this narrative review, keywords terial species may produce secondary toxins and metabo- were chosen: Xenorhabdus; Photorhabdus; insect and mos- lites capable of inducing larval death. Tus, symbiotic quito control; arbovirus and Aedes. All articles that con- bacteria possibly cause pathogenicity after being ingested tained information relevant to the purpose of the review by mosquitoes [14]. were selected and used for their construction. As we pro- Biological vector control is an ecological and sustain- pose that these bacterial species can be used to control able method since it has a slow rate of insect resistance mosquitoes, no temporal delimitation was made for the development [27]. Insecticide activities have been inves- inclusion of the articles, aiming at a greater range of results tigated in several microorganisms, including bacteria that could be used.