Abstract
BackgroundMalaria vector mosquitoes acquire midgut microbiota primarily from their habitat. The homeostasis of these microbial communities plays an essential role in the mosquito longevity, the most essential factor in the mosquito vectorial capacity. Our recent study revealed that silencing genes involved in regulation of the midgut homeostasis including FN3D1, FN3D3 and GPRGr9 reduced the survival of female adult Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes. In the present study, we investigate the stability of the gene silencing efficiency of mosquitoes reared in three different breeding conditions representing distinct larval habitat types: town brick pits in Jimma, flood pools in the rural land of Asendabo and roadside pools in Wolkite.MethodsFirst-instar larvae of An. arabiensis mosquitoes were reared separately using water collected from the three breeding sites. The resulting adult females were micro-injected with dsRNA targeting the FN3D1 gene (AARA003032) and their survival was monitored. Control mosquitoes were injected with dsRNA Lacz. In addition, the load of midgut microbiota of these mosquitoes was determined using flow cytometry.ResultsSurvival of naïve adult female mosquitoes differed between the three sites. Mosquitoes reared using water collected from brick pits and flood pools survived longer than mosquitoes reared using water collected from roadside. However, the FN3D1 gene silencing effect on survival did not differ between the three sites.ConclusionsThe present study revealed that the efficacy of FN3D1 gene silencing is not affected by variation in the larval habitat. Thus, silencing this gene has potential for application throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Highlights
Malaria vector mosquitoes acquire midgut microbiota primarily from their habitat
The water samples from Jimma and Asendabo had close to the neutral pH, while water samples from Wolkite were alkaline with the highest salinity
The level of dissolved oxygen was considerably higher for Wolkite and Asendabo compared to Jimma
Summary
Malaria vector mosquitoes acquire midgut microbiota primarily from their habitat. The homeostasis of these microbial communities plays an essential role in the mosquito longevity, the most essential factor in the mosquito vectorial capacity. Our recent study revealed that silencing genes involved in regulation of the midgut homeostasis including FN3D1, FN3D3 and GPRGr9 reduced the survival of female adult Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes. We investigate the stability of the gene silencing efficiency of mosquitoes reared in three different breeding conditions representing distinct larval habitat types: town brick pits in Jimma, flood pools in the rural land of Asendabo and roadside pools in Wolkite. Previous studies have demonstrated that larval fitness has a major effect on the adult survival of different malaria mosquitoes [8,9,10,11]. Previous studies have demonstrated that bacteria in the breeding water are most critical for the quality of the larval diet and their absence leads to increased larval mortality [14,15,16,17]
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