Arboviruses infection shapes the microbiome in Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus

Strong evidences have emerged that host-associated microbial communities have direct influences on the host biology, evolution, immunity and metabolism, by modifying the multipartite interaction dynamics. Various symbiotic bacteria and viruses have been identified in mosquitoes. However, little is known about the microbiota (including eukaryotic viruses, bacteria and bacteriophages) in mosquitoes and their potential influence on the transmission of pathogenetic arboviruses. Therefore, in this study we orally infect female adult Aedes (Ae.) aegypti and Culex (Cx.) quinquefasciatus from Guadeloupe with blood spiked with Zika virus (ZIKV) and West Nile virus (WNV), respectively. Two groups fed with non-infectious blood or sucrose/water were used as controls. Both mosquito species for each condition were sacrificed at 7 and 21 days post exposure (dpe) for Ae. aegypti and 7 and 14 dpe for Cx. quinquefasciatus.