Bacterial diversity associated with wild caught Anopheles mosquitoes from Dak Nong Province, Vietnam using culture and DNA fingerprint.
BACKGROUND
Microbiota of Anopheles midgut can modulate vector immunity and block Plasmodium development. Investigation on the bacterial biodiversity in Anopheles, and specifically on the identification of bacteria that might be used in malaria transmission blocking approaches, has been mainly conducted on malaria vectors of Africa. Vietnam is an endemic country for both malaria and Bancroftian filariasis whose parasitic agents can be transmitted by the same Anopheles species. No information on the microbiota of Anopheles mosquitoes in Vietnam was available previous to this study.


METHODS
The culture dependent approach, using different mediums, and culture independent (16S rRNA PCR - TTGE) method were used to investigate the bacterial biodiversity in the abdomen of 5 Anopheles species collected from Dak Nong Province, central-south Vietnam. Molecular methods, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were used to characterize the microbiota.


CONCLUSIONS
The microbiota in wild-caught Anopheles was diverse with the presence of 47 bacterial OTUs belonging to 30 genera, including bacterial genera impacting Plasmodium development. The bacteria were affiliated with 4 phyla, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, the latter being the dominant phylum. Four bacterial genera are newly described in Anopheles mosquitoes including Coxiella, Yersinia, Xanthomonas, and Knoellia. The bacterial diversity per specimen was low ranging from 1 to 4. The results show the importance of pairing culture and fingerprint methods to better screen the bacterial community in Anopheles mosquitoes.


CONCLUSIONS
Sampled Anopheles species from central-south Vietnam contained a diverse bacterial microbiota that needs to be investigated further in order to develop new malaria control approaches. The combination of both culture and DNA fingerprint methods allowed a thorough and complementary screening of the bacterial community in Anopheles mosquitoes.
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR-MD3, Faculté de Pharmacie, Montpellier, France; National Institute of Veterinary Research, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Chung Thuy
CT
Ngo
University Montpellier 1, UMR 5119 ECOSYM, Equipe Pathogènes et Environnements, Faculté de Pharmacie, Montpellier, France.
Fabien
F
Aujoulat
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR-MD3, Faculté de Pharmacie, Montpellier, France.
Francisco
F
Veas
University Montpellier 1, UMR 5119 ECOSYM, Equipe Pathogènes et Environnements, Faculté de Pharmacie, Montpellier, France.
Estelle
E
Jumas-Bilak
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR-MD3, Faculté de Pharmacie, Montpellier, France.
Sylvie
S
Manguin
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014744:Vietnam