skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Host-Environment Interplay Shapes Fungal Diversity in Mosquitoes
ABSTRACT Mosquito larvae encounter diverse assemblages of bacteria (i.e., “microbiota”) and fungi in the aquatic environments that they develop in. However, while a number of studies have addressed the diversity and function of microbiota in mosquito life history, relatively little is known about mosquito-fungus interactions outside several key fungal entomopathogens. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing of internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) metabarcode markers to provide the first simultaneous characterization of the fungal communities in field-collected Aedes albopictus larvae and their associated aquatic environments. Our results reveal unprecedented variation in fungal communities among adjacent but discrete larval breeding habitats. Our results also reveal a distinct fungal community assembly in the mosquito gut versus other tissues, with gut-associated fungal communities being most similar to those present in the environment where larvae feed. Altogether, our results identify the environment as the dominant factor shaping the fungal community associated with mosquito larvae, with no evidence of environmental filtering by the gut. These results also identify mosquito feeding behavior and fungal mode of nutrition as potential drivers of tissue-specific fungal community assembly after environmental acquisition. IMPORTANCE The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus , is the dominant mosquito species in the United States and an important vector of arboviruses of major public health concern. One aspect of mosquito control to curb mosquito-borne diseases has been the use of biological control agents such as fungal entomopathogens. Recent studies also demonstrate the impact of mosquito-associated microbial communities on various mosquito traits, including vector competence. However, while much research attention has been dedicated to understanding the diversity and function of mosquito-associated bacterial communities, relatively little is known about mosquito-associated fungal communities. A better understanding of the factors that drive fungal community diversity and assembly in mosquitoes will be essential for future efforts to target mosquito-associated bacteria and fungi for mosquito and mosquito-borne disease control.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2019368
PAR ID:
10326521
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Editor(s):
Young, Vincent B.
Date Published:
Journal Name:
mSphere
Volume:
6
Issue:
5
ISSN:
2379-5042
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Journal of Medical Entomology)
    Abstract Microplastics (MPs) are common environmental pollutants; however, little is known about their effects after ingestion by insects. Here we fed Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (L.) and Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse) mosquito larvae 1 µm polystyrene MPs and examined the impacts of ingestion on adult emergence rates, gut damage, and fungal and bacterial microbiota. Results show that MPs accumulate in the larval guts, resulting in gut damage. However, little impact on adult emergence rates was observed. MPs are also found in adult guts postemergence from the pupal stage, and adults expel MPs in their frass after obtaining sugar meals. Moreover, MPs effects on insect microbiomes need to be better defined. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the relationship between MP ingestion and the microbial communities in Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti. The microbiota composition was altered by the ingestion of increasing concentrations of MPs. Amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) that contributed to differences in the bacterial and fungal microbiota composition between MP treatments were from the genera Elizabethkingia and Aspergillus, respectively. Furthermore, a decrease in the alpha diversity of the fungal and bacterial microbiota was observed in treatments where larvae ingested MPs. These results highlight the potential for the bacterial and fungal constituents in the mosquito microbiome to respond differently to the ingestion of MPs. Based on our findings and the effects of MP ingestion on the mosquito host micro- and mycobiome, MP pollution could impact the vector competence of important mosquito-transmitted viruses and parasites that cause human and animal diseases. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; (, Scientific Reports)
    null (Ed.)
    Abstract Mosquito bacterial communities are essential in mosquito biology, and knowing the factors shaping these bacterial communities is critical to their application in mosquito-borne disease control. This study investigated how the larval environment influences the bacterial communities of larval stages of two container-dwelling mosquito species, Aedes triseriatus, and Aedes japonicus. Larval and water samples were collected from tree holes and used tires at two study sites, and their bacteria characterized through MiSeq sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Bacterial richness was highest in Ae. japonicus , intermediate in Ae. triseriatus , and lowest in water samples. Dysgonomonas was the dominant bacterial taxa in Ae. triseriatus larvae; the unclassified Comamonadaceae was dominant in water samples from waste tires, while Mycobacterium and Carnobacterium , dominated Ae. japonicus . The two mosquito species harbored distinct bacterial communities that were different from those of the water samples. The bacterial communities also clustered by habitat type (used tires vs. tree holes) and study site. These findings demonstrate that host species, and the larval sampling environment are important determinants of a significant component of bacterial community composition and diversity in mosquito larvae and that the mosquito body may select for microbes that are generally rare in the larval environment. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; (, Molecular Ecology)
    ABSTRACT Vector mosquitoes are well‐adapted to habitats in urban areas, including belowground infrastructure such as stormwater systems. As a major source of larval habitat in population centers, control of larval populations in stormwater catch basins is an important tool for control of vector‐borne disease. Larval development and adult phenotypes driving vectorial capacity in mosquitoes are modulated by the larval gut microbiota, which is recruited from the aquatic environment in which larvae develop. Laboratory studies have quantified microbe‐mediated impacts on individual mosquito phenotypes, but more work is needed to characterise how microbiota variation shapes population‐level outcomes. Here, we evaluated the relationship between habitat microbiota variation and mosquito population dynamics by simultaneously characterising microbiota diversity, water quality, and mosquito productivity in a network of stormwater catch basins in the Chicago metropolitan area. High throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons from water samples collected from 60 basins over an entire mosquito breeding season detected highly diverse bacterial communities that varied with measures of water quality and over time. In situ measurements of mosquito abundance in the same basins further varied by microbiota composition and the relative abundance of specific bacterial taxa. Altogether, these results illustrate the importance of habitat microbiota in shaping ecological processes that affect mosquito populations. They also lay the foundation for future studies to characterise the mechanisms by which specific bacterial taxa impact individual and population‐level phenotypes related to mosquito vectorial capacity. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
    Climate change is significantly impacting the geographic range of many animal species and their associated microorganisms, hence influencing emergence of vector-borne diseases. Mosquito-borne viruses represent a potential major reservoir of human pathogens, highlighting the need for improved understanding of ecological factors associated with variation in the mosquito viral community (virome). Here, a subtractive hybridization method coupled with RNAseq of individual mosquito specimens was used to profile RNA viromes of individual co-occurringAedes albopictusandAedes vexansmosquitoes across a 2,000 km spatial scale. Samples were collected and archived by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) from four ecologically variable sites in the Southeastern United States between 2018 and 2019. Results of multivariate analysis suggest that mosquito species are an important factor in RNA viral community composition. Significantly higher viral diversity was detected inA. albopictuscompared toA.vexans. However, season, year, and site of sample collection did not show strong association with virome profiles, supporting the hypothesis that factors unique to the mosquito host species (e.g., larval habitat or vector competence) influence the structure of mosquito viromes. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; (, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)
    null (Ed.)
    Most species of mosquitoes are detritivores that feed on decaying plant and animal materials in their aquatic environment. Studies of several detritivorous mosquito species indicate that they host relatively low diversity communities of microbes that are acquired from the environment while feeding. Our recent results also indicate that detritivorous species normally require a living gut microbiota to grow beyond the first instar. Less well known is that some mosquitoes, including those belonging to the genus Toxorhynchites , are predators that feed on other species of mosquitoes and nektonic prey. In this study, we asked whether predaceous Toxorhynchites amboinensis larvae still require living microbes in their gut in order to develop. Using the detritivorous mosquito Aedes aegypti as prey, we found that T. amboinensis larvae harbour bacterial communities that are highly similar to that of their prey. Functional assays showed that T. amboinensis first instars provided axenic (i.e. bacteria-free) prey failed to develop, while two bacterial species present in gnotobiotic (i.e. colonized by one or more known bacterial species) prey successfully colonized the T. amboinensis gut and rescued development. Axenic T. amboinensis larvae also displayed defects in growth consistent with previously identified roles for microbe-mediated gut hypoxia in nutrient acquisition and assimilation in A. aegypti. Collectively, these results support a conserved role for gut microbes in regulating the development of mosquitoes with different feeding strategies. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email