A preliminary study on diversity of midgut microbiota in Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) collected from Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus are important mosquito vectors for many infectious diseases. A number of factors affect the vector competence of these mosquitoes for a specific pathogen. The bacteria harbored in the midgut are known to influence mosquito physiology and can alter the response to various pathogens. Bacteria from the midgut of Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus were cultured and identified using bacteriological and molecular techniques in this study in which two groups of mosquitoes were examined. The first group was laboratory- reared, and the second group were field- collected mosquitoes from Bangkok. Twelve bacterial genera (i. e., Acinetobacter, Agrobacterium, Bacillus, Cellulomonas, Chryseomicrobium, Dietzia, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Microbacterium, Pantoea, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus) were identified from laboratory- reared Ae. aegypti and eight bacterial genera (i. e., Bacillus, Cellulomonas, Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Moraxella, Neisseria, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus) were determined from field- collected Ae. aegypti. Five bacterial genera (i. e., Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Paenibacillus, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus) were identified from laboratory- reared Cx. quinquefasciatus and 13 bacterial genera (i. e., Acinetobacter, Actinomyces, Bacillus, Chryseobacterium, Kocuria, Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Novosphingobium, Pantoea, Providencia, Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus, and Staphylococcus) were examined from field- collected Cx. quinquefasciatus. The variation of these midgut microbiota may influence mosquito vector competence for a specific pathogen. However, further studies need to be performed to indicate this relationship.