The dynamic gut microbiota of zoophilic members of the Anopheles gambiae complex (Diptera: Culicidae).

The gut microbiota of mosquitoes plays a critical role in the life history of the animal. There is a growing body of research characterising the gut microbiota of a range of mosquito species, but there is still a paucity of information on some members of the Anopheles gambiae complex. In this study, the gut microbiota of four laboratory strains were characterised. SENN (Anopheles arabiensis-insecticide susceptible major vector), SENN DDT (Anopheles arabiensis-insecticide resistant major vector), MAFUS (Anopheles merus-minor vector) and SANGWE (Anopheles quadriannulatus-non-vector) were used in this study. The microbiota of fourth instar larvae, 3-day old, 15-day old non-blood fed and 15-day old blood fed females were characterised by MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy and 16 s rRNA gene sequencing by next generation sequencing. The four strains differed in species richness but not diversity. The major vectors differ in ß-diversity from that of the minor and non-vectors. There was no difference in α- or ß-diversity in 15 non-blood fed females and 15-day old females that had 3 blood meals before day 15. These differences may be related to a mixture of the effect of insecticide resistance phenotype as well as a potential relationship to vector competence to a limited extent. Bacterial diversity is affected by species and age. There is also a potential relationship between the differences in gut microbiota and capacity to transmit parasites. This genetic background of the mosquitoes, however, play a major role, and must be considered in this relationship.