Ayala Diego auteur aut IRD Akone-Ella O. auteur aut IRD Rahola Nil auteur aut IRD Kengne Pierre auteur aut IRD Ngangue M. F. auteur aut IRD Mezeme F. auteur aut IRD Makanga B. K. auteur aut IRD Nigg Martha auteur aut IRD Costantini Carlo auteur aut IRD Simard Frédéric auteur aut IRD Prugnolle F. auteur aut IRD Roche Benjamin auteur aut IRD Duron O. auteur aut IRD Paupy Christophe auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access During the last decade, the endosymbiont bacterium Wolbachia has emerged as a biological tool for vector disease control. However, for long time, it was believed that Wolbachia was absent in natural populations of Anopheles. The recent discovery that species within the Anopheles gambiae complex host Wolbachia in natural conditions has opened new opportunities for malaria control research in Africa. Here, we investigated the prevalence and diversity of Wolbachia infection in 25 African Anopheles species in Gabon (Central Africa). Our results revealed the presence of Wolbachia in 16 of these species, including the major malaria vectors in this area. The infection prevalence varied greatly among species, confirming that sample size is a key factor to detect the infection. Moreover, our sequencing and phylogenetic analyses showed the important diversity of Wolbachia strains that infect Anopheles. Co-evolutionary analysis unveiled patterns of Wolbachia transmission within some Anopheles species, suggesting that past independent acquisition events were followed by co-cladogenesis. The large diversity of Wolbachia strains that infect natural populations of Anopheles offers a promising opportunity to select suitable phenotypes for suppressing Plasmodium transmission and/or manipulating Anopheles reproduction, which in turn could be used to reduce the malaria burden in Africa. specialized Anopheles co-evolution disease control diversity Wolbachia GABON 052 084 12 8 1583-1594 2019 1752-4571 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010077061 10.1111/eva.12804 1752-4571 [F B010077061] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010077061 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers19-10/010077061.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2019-11-05 2025-02-24 fdi:010077061 fre