Wolbachia bacteria decrease with temperature followed by an increase in West Nile virus prevalence in mosquitoes, Culex pipiens.
In a study co-led by Douglas Woodhams and Eva Novakova, mosquito microbiomes were examined for seasonal patterns and trends with West Nile virus prevalence. A fascinating outcome was a correlation between increased temperature, a reduction of protective Wolbachia bacteria, and subsequent increase in West Nile virus. The study was highlighted in a WBUR radio interview and presented at the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases conference at UC Santa Barbara.
Novakova E, Woodhams DC, Rodríguez-Ruano SM, Brucker RM, Leff JW, Maharaj A, Amir A, Knight R, Scott J. (2017) Mosquito microbiome dynamics, a background for prevalence and seasonality of West Nile virus. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8:526. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00526/full