Abstract
Wolbachia, an endosymbiotic alpha-proteobacterium commonly found in insects, can inhibit the transmission of human pathogens by mosquitoes. Biocontrol programs are underway using Aedes aegypti mosquitoes trans-infected with a non-natural Wolbachia strain to reduce dengue virus transmission. Less is known about the impact of Wolbachia on the biology and vectorial capacity of Anopheles mosquitoes, the vectors of malaria parasites. A naturally occurring strain of Wolbachia, wAnga, infects populations of the major malaria vectors Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii in Burkina Faso. Previous studies found wAnga infection was negatively correlated with Plasmodium infection in the mosquito and wAnga influenced mosquito egg-laying behavior. Here, we investigate wAnga in natural populations of An. coluzzii and its interactions with other resident microbiota using targeted 16S sequencing. Though we find no major differences in microbiota composition associated with wAnga infection, we do find several taxa that correlate with the presence or absence of wAnga in female mosquitoes following oviposition, with the caveat that we could not rule out batch effects due to the unanticipated impact of wAnga on oviposition timing. These data suggest wAnga may influence or interact with the Anopheles microbiota, which may contribute to the impact of wAnga on Anopheles biology and vectorial capacity.
Highlights
Despite progress in control efforts over the past decade, malaria remains a major global health problem, with over 200 million reported cases each y ear[1]
Using 16S-based assays on DNA extracted from mosquito carcasses, we found that while there are no major differences in the microbiome composition between mosquitoes with vs. without wAnga, certain bacterial taxa appear to be positively or negatively associated with this Wolbachia strain
We analysed 171 mosquitoes (Fig. 1), 102 of which were determined to be infected with wAnga by 16S PCR16, by targeted 16S rRNA sequencing and obtained a mean of 72,656 reads per sample (Supplementary Fig. 1a); 144 samples exhibited at least 10,000 reads and were retained for further analysis
Summary
Despite progress in control efforts over the past decade, malaria remains a major global health problem, with over 200 million reported cases each y ear[1]. Wolbachia infections are negatively correlated with P. falciparum in An. coluzzii[16,19], raising interest in understanding the mechanism by which these bacteria affect the capacity of Anopheles mosquitoes to transmit malaria parasites. Using 16S-based assays on DNA extracted from mosquito carcasses, we found that while there are no major differences in the microbiome composition between mosquitoes with vs without wAnga, certain bacterial taxa appear to be positively or negatively associated with this Wolbachia strain. This could suggest that some residents of the Anopheles microbiota may promote the ability of wAnga to colonize the mosquito host, while others may disrupt it. Interpretation of these associations between wAnga and other microbes is complicated by the biological effects of wAnga infection on An. coluzzii oviposition t iming[16], motivating further studies to explore the interaction of these effects on microbiome profile
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