The aim of my project is to understand, and further elucidate the relationships that Wolbachia has with its hosts. A particular variant of Wolbachia, popcorn (wMelPop) is a virulent strain that shortens the lifespan of its hosts by over replicating within, and consequently rupturing the cells. This strain is the focus of much of my project, which forms only a small part of a larger, international collaboration that aims to limit the transmission of Dengue Fever. Given that the Dengue virus requires a period of incubation within the Dengue vector (A. aegypti) before it can be transmitted to a new human, the objective of this project is use wMelPop to limit the lifespan of A. aegypti to below that of the incubation period.

Since wMelPop was originally identified in D. melanogaster, we must first understand as many intricacies as possible about the host/bacteria relationship in the native host (and closely related species) before we can appreciate its true potential in a completely novel host, more distantly related to Drosophila. Traits such as development time, productivity, viability and longevity must be characterised, and factors such as host genetic backgrounds, maternal transmission rates and levels of cytoplasmic incompatibility also need to be considered in the feasibility of such a project. The potential for evolution and the ability for host and bacterial genomes to interact with each other are important issues that need to be addressed.

Another area of future work planned includes further characterising the evolution of mutually beneficial interactions between hosts and Wolbachia, as seen in the Wolbachia Riverside infection in Californian Drosophila simulans.