Title
Whole metagenome sequencing reveals links between mosquito microbiota and insecticide resistance in malaria vectors
Date Issued
01 December 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Springer Nature
Nature Publishing Group
Abstract
In light of the declining global malaria burden attained largely due to insecticides, a deeper understanding of the factors driving insecticide resistance is needed to mitigate its growing threat to malaria vector control programs. Following evidence of microbiota-mediated insecticide resistance in agricultural pests, we undertook a comparative study of the microbiota in mosquitoes of differing insecticide resistance status. The microbiota of wild-caught Anopheles albimanus, an important Latin American malaria vector, that were resistant (FEN-Res) or susceptible (FEN-Sus) to the organophosphate (OP) insecticide fenitrothion were characterized and compared using whole metagenome sequencing. Results showed differing composition of the microbiota and its functions between FEN-Res and FEN-Sus, with significant enrichment of OP-degrading bacteria and enzymes in FEN-Res compared to FEN-Sus. Lower bacterial diversity was observed in FEN-Res compared to FEN-Sus, suggesting the enrichment of bacterial taxa with a competitive advantage in response to insecticide selection pressure. We report and characterize for the first time whole metagenomes of An. albimanus, revealing associations between the microbiota and phenotypic resistance to the insecticide fenitrothion. This study lays the groundwork for further investigation of the role of the mosquito microbiota in insecticide resistance.
Volume
8
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Biología celular, Microbiología Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85041571413
PubMed ID
Source
Scientific Reports
ISSN of the container
20452322
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the American Society for Microbiology’s (ASM) Infectious disease and Public Health Microbiology Postdoctoral Fellowship program, and the CDC’s Advanced Molecular Detection (AMD) program. We thank Yvonne Qvarnstrom for providing the host DNA removal kit, Gregory Dasch and Mike Frace for inputs on the design, the CDC’s AMD scientific computing team for bioinformatics support, Lucrecia Vizcaino for assisting with in vitro assays, and William Brogdon for useful discussions throughout the development of the project and preparation of the manuscript. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus