16S rRNA Amplicon Sequences of Anopheles gambiae Midgut Samples

Glyphosate (GLYPH) is an herbicide that is commonly used in agriculture and is the active ingredient in Roundup. Studies have shown that ingestion of GLYPH by honeybees increases the susceptibility of the insects to natural infection, a phenomenon attributed to perturbation of the resident gut microbiome. One of the aims of this study was to determine if GLYPH has similar effects on the microbiome of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. Mosquitoes were drugged with varying doses of GLYPH, and their gut microbiota were analyzed by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Results indicate that while GLYPH does not alter the bacterial load of the A. gambiae gut microbiome, the makeup of the community is altered in a dose-independent manner.