Data from: Mosquitoes rely on their gut microbiota for development

Field studies indicate adult mosquitoes (Culicidae) host low diversity communities of bacteria that vary greatly among individuals and species. In contrast, it remains unclear how adult mosquitoes acquire their microbiome, what influences community structure, and whether the microbiome is important for survival. Here we used pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA to characterize the bacterial communities of three mosquito species reared under identical conditions. Two of these species, Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae, are anautogenous and must blood feed to produce eggs, while one, Georgecraigius atropalpus, is autogenous and produces eggs without blood feeding. Our results indicated each hosts a low diversity community comprised primarily of aerobic bacteria. However, the communities in Ae. aegypti and An. gambiae larvae were much more similar to one another than to Ge. atropalpus. Studies with Ae. aegypti indicated adults transstadially acquire many members of the larval bacterial community, whereas only four genera of bacteria in blood fed females were detected on eggs. Functional assays showed that axenic larvae of each species failed to develop beyond the first instar. Experiments with Ae. aegypti indicated several members of the microbial community and Escherichia coli successfully colonized axenic larvae and rescued development. Overall, our results provide new insights about the acquisition and structure of bacterial communities in mosquitoes. They also indicate three mosquito species spanning the breadth of the Culicidae depend on their gut microbiome for development, while suggesting the possibility the gut microbiome is an important factor in autogeny.

野外研究表明，成年蚊类（蚊科，Culicidae）携带有低多样性的细菌群落，且不同个体与蚊种间的群落组成差异显著。与之相对，目前尚不清楚成年蚊类如何获得其微生物组、哪些因素会影响其群落结构，以及微生物组是否对蚊类存活至关重要。本研究通过16S rRNA焦磷酸测序技术，对在相同饲养条件下培育的3种蚊类的细菌群落进行了表征分析。其中两种蚊类——埃及伊蚊（Aedes aegypti）与冈比亚按蚊（Anopheles gambiae）为非自育性物种，必须通过吸血才能产卵；而另一种蚊类——阿特罗帕普斯乔治蚊（Georgecraigius atropalpus）则为自育性物种，无需吸血即可产卵。研究结果显示，三种蚊类均携带有以需氧菌为主的低多样性细菌群落。但相较于阿特罗帕普斯乔治蚊，埃及伊蚊与冈比亚按蚊的幼虫细菌群落彼此更为相似。针对埃及伊蚊的研究表明，成虫会通过变态阶段获得幼虫细菌群落中的多数类群；而仅在吸血雌蚊的虫卵表面检测到了4个菌属的细菌。功能实验结果显示，所有三种蚊类的无菌幼虫均无法发育至一龄以上阶段。针对埃及伊蚊的实验表明，微生物群落中的多个类群与大肠杆菌（Escherichia coli）可成功定殖于无菌幼虫体内，并挽救其发育进程。综上，本研究为蚊类细菌群落的获得与结构特征提供了新的认知。同时本研究表明，涵盖蚊科多个类群的3种蚊类均依赖其肠道微生物组完成发育，并提示肠道微生物组可能是影响蚊类自育性的重要因素。