Abstract
BackgroundAedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are vectors of numerous arboviruses that adversely affect human health. In mosquito vectors of disease, the bacterial microbiota influence several physiological processes, including fertility and vector competence, making manipulation of the bacterial community a promising method to control mosquito vectors. In this study, we describe the reproductive tract tissue microbiota of lab-reared virgin Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus males, and virgin, mated, and mated + blood-fed females of each species, comparing the bacterial composition found there to the well-described gut microbiota.MethodsWe performed metabarcoding of the 16S rRNA isolated from the gut, upper reproductive tract (URT; testes or ovaries), and lower reproductive tract (LRT; males: seminal vesicles and accessory glands; females: oviduct, spermathecae, and bursa) for each species, and evaluated the influence of host species, tissue, nutritional status, and reproductive status on microbiota composition. Finally, based on the identified taxonomic profiles of the tissues assessed, bacterial metabolic pathway abundance was predicted.ResultsThe community structure of the reproductive tract is unique compared to the gut. Asaia is the most prevalent OTU in the LRTs of both Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. In the URT, we observed differences between species, with Wolbachia OTUs being dominant in the Ae. albopictus URT, while Enterobacter and Serratia were dominant in Ae. aegypti URT. Host species and tissue were the best predictors of the community composition compared to reproductive status (i.e., virgin or mated) and nutritional status (i.e., sugar or blood-fed). The predicted functional profile shows changes in the abundance of specific microbial pathways that are associated with mating and blood-feeding, like energy production in mated tissues and siderophore synthesis in blood-fed female tissues.ConclusionsAedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus have distinct differences in the composition of microbiota found in the reproductive tract. The distribution of the bacterial taxonomic groups indicates that some bacteria have tissue-specific tropism for reproductive tract tissue, such as Asaia and Wolbachia. No significant differences in the taxonomic composition were observed in the reproductive tract between virgin, mated, and mated + blood-fed females, but changes in the abundance of specific metabolic pathways were found in the predicted microbial functional profiles in mated and blood-fed females.Graphical
Highlights
Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are vectors of numerous arboviruses that adversely affect human health
We determined bacterial composition in virgins of both sexes, and in mated females at 0, 24, 48, and 72 h post-mating; 72 h is the typical time a female requires to lay a clutch of eggs after blood ingestion in the strains used in our experiments
Mated females were further split into two groups: mated only and mated + blood-fed; these female groups are referred to hereafter as non-blood-fed (NBF) and blood-fed (BF)
Summary
Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are vectors of numerous arboviruses that adversely affect human health. Ae. albopictus are invasive mosquito species that are responsible for the dissemination of numerous viruses that adversely affect human health, including dengue [1], Zika [2], and chikungunya [3] viruses. While male-derived gene products are essential for fertility, other factors can alter the fertility of female insects, such as nutritional status [12, 13], immune function [14], male age [15], body size [16, 17], and temperature [18] Another factor that can alter fertility is the composition of bacterial microbiota [19,20,21]
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