Abstract
Improved biomonitoring of mosquitoes requires an in-depth understanding on occurrences of both vector and non-vector species, in larval, and adult stages. Accurate descriptions of the ecological context in which mosquitoes thrive remain limited, particularly for larval stages. The aim of this study was to develop a mixed-amplicon eDNA approach to assess (i) whether mosquito larval communities of stagnant fresh-water bodies can be detected using a Culicidae-specific primer and (ii) how these results compare to traditional trapping of adult mosquitoes. Results from 32 ponds inside and outside Kruger National Park, South Africa show that our primer detected mosquito eDNA. However, it yielded only a subset of the species found using adult trapping methods. Particularly the less frequent and container-breeding species were not found. Our approach provides the first steps toward an eDNA-based method to assess the entire community of larval-stage mosquitoes. It may thereby overcome current taxonomic hurdles presented by morphological identification of larvae. As such, it holds great promise for biomonitoring and ecological studies of mosquitoes.
Highlights
IntroductionMosquitoes (order: Diptera, family: Culicidae) are known vectors for a wide variety of pathogens
Mosquitoes are known vectors for a wide variety of pathogens
The aim of this study was (i) to test if we were able to pick up the mosquito community composition of stagnant freshwater bodies using a customized local barcode database and a tailored family-specific mosquito environmental DNA (eDNA) primer on c oxidase 1 (CO1), and (ii) to assess how our eDNA results relate to adult trapping methods
Summary
Mosquitoes (order: Diptera, family: Culicidae) are known vectors for a wide variety of pathogens. A mixed amplicon metagenomics approach based on environmental DNA (eDNA) potentially allows for the simultaneous, DNA-based identification of an entire species community. An eDNA-Based Assessment of Mosquito Communities (Taberlet et al, 2012), using species-specific traces of DNA (derived from feces, urine, hair, skin, or other cells). These traces can be extracted from various environments (e.g., water, air, soil) (Ficetola et al, 2008) and selected regions of these traces can be amplified using primers that bind to a well-known region on the genome. A metagenomics approach to study entire mosquito communities would constitute a potentially powerful method to characterize mosquito communities and supplement traditional sampling approaches for determining larval communities
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