ASAIA BACTERIUM AS A POTENTIAL TOOL TO COMBAT AGAINST MALARIA AND OTHER VECTOR BORNE DISEASES

Background and Aim:Malaria is a vector borne diseases which considered as one of the priorities of WHO for many years. Different strategies have been suggested to control the malaria disease. Paratransgenesis is one of the solutions for vector control. In this strategy, symbiont microorganisms are used for disrupting the parasite life cycle or vector fitness. Asaia is a bacterium from acid acetic alpha proteobacterium which stably associated with some mosquitos like several Anopheles. Asaia has some specific characteristics that make it as a potent candidate for paratransgenesis such as: cultivation in cell-free media, colonization in different parts of the vector body, easy transformation and vertical and horizontal transmission to larvae.Methods:Different larval samples of Anopheles were collected from three provinces of Iran: Siastan and baluchestan, Hormozgan and Fars. Samples were transferred to National Insectary of Iran. Bacteria were isolated from larval and adult midguts and cultured in specific media of Asaia. Morphological and biochemical analysis were performed on samples. Molecular confirmation was performed by 16s rRNA PCR with genus specific primers.Results:Based on the specific culture situations and molecular test, we isolated Asaia bacteria from the collected samples from the three aforementioned provinces.Conclusion:Paratransgenesis is kind of a Trojan Horse avenue for achieving the control and transmission blocking of the disease. In general, Asaia has some basic characteristics such as: no pathogenicity for human, simple genetic manipulating, vertical and horizontal transmission, culture on non-expensive media. Therefore, Asaia can be considered as a very potent agent for developing a robust paratransgenesis tool to control malaria disease.

کلیدواژه ها:

Asaia ، Malaria ، paratransgenesis ، Anopheles ، 16s rRNA