Data from: Wolbachia infection alters the relative abundance of resident bacteria in adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, but not larvae

Insect-symbiont interactions are known to play key roles in host functions and fitness. The common insect endosymbiont Wolbachia can reduce the ability of several human pathogens, including arboviruses and the malaria parasite, to replicate in insect hosts. Wolbachia does not naturally infect Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of dengue virus, but transinfected Ae. aegypti have anti-dengue virus properties and are currently being trialled as a dengue biocontrol strategy. Here, we assess the impact of Wolbachia infection of Ae. aegypti on the microbiome of wild mosquito populations (adults and larvae) collected from release sites in Cairns, Australia, by profiling 16S rRNA gene using next generation sequencing. Our data indicate that Wolbachia reduces the relative abundance of a large proportion of bacterial taxa in Ae. aegypti adults, that is in accordance with the known pathogen-blocking effects of Wolbachia on a variety of bacteria and viruses. In adults, several of the most abundant bacterial genera were found to undergo significant shifts in relative abundance. However, the genera showing the greatest changes in relative abundance in Wolbachia-infected adults represented a low proportion of the total microbiome. In addition, there was little effect of Wolbachia infection on the relative abundance of bacterial taxa in larvae, or on species diversity (accounting for species richness and evenness together) detected in adults or larvae. These results offer insight into the effects of Wolbachia on the Ae. aegypti microbiome in a native setting, an important consideration for field releases of Wolbachia into the population.

昆虫与其共生菌的互作已知在宿主机能与生存适合度中发挥关键作用。常见昆虫内共生菌沃尔巴克氏体（Wolbachia）可抑制多种人类病原体——包括虫媒病毒与疟原虫——在昆虫宿主体内的复制能力。沃尔巴克氏体无法自然感染登革病毒的主要传播媒介埃及伊蚊（Aedes aegypti），但经转染的埃及伊蚊具备抗登革病毒特性，目前正作为登革热生物防治策略开展田间试验。本研究通过下一代测序（next generation sequencing）技术对16S rRNA基因（16S rRNA gene）进行谱型分析，评估了澳大利亚凯恩斯市释放点采集的野生蚊群（成虫与幼虫）中，沃尔巴克氏体感染对埃及伊蚊微生物组的影响。研究数据显示，沃尔巴克氏体可降低埃及伊蚊成虫体内绝大多数细菌类群的相对丰度，这与已知的沃尔巴克氏体对多种细菌与病毒的病原体阻断效应相符。在成虫样本中，部分丰度较高的细菌属的相对丰度出现了显著变化，但在受沃尔巴克氏体感染的成虫体内，相对丰度变化最显著的菌属仅占菌群总组成的极小比例。此外，沃尔巴克氏体感染对幼虫体内细菌类群的相对丰度，以及成虫与幼虫样本中检测到的物种多样性（兼顾物种丰富度与均匀度）均无显著影响。本研究结果揭示了野外环境下沃尔巴克氏体对埃及伊蚊微生物组的影响，这对于沃尔巴克氏体的田间种群释放具有重要参考价值。