title: Bacterial associations reveal spatial population dynamics in Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes.
abstract: The intolerable burden of malaria has for too long plagued humanity and the prospect of eradicating malaria is an optimistic, but reachable, target in the 21(st) century. However, extensive knowledge is needed about the spatial structure of mosquito populations in order to develop effective interventions against malaria transmission. We hypothesized that the microbiota associated with a mosquito reflects acquisition of bacteria in different environments. By analyzing the whole-body bacterial flora of An. gambiae mosquitoes from Burkina Faso by 16 S amplicon sequencing, we found that the different environments gave each mosquito a specific bacterial profile. In addition, the bacterial profiles provided precise and predicting information on the spatial dynamics of the mosquito population as a whole and showed that the mosquitoes formed clear local populations within a meta-population network. We believe that using microbiotas as proxies for population structures will greatly aid improving the performance of vector interventions around the world.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology Center and Bioinformatics Infrastructure for Life Sciences, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala Sweden.
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buck
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Louise K J
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brunius
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé/Centre Muraz, O1 BP 390 Bobo-Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Roch K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Dabiré
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.|Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hopkins
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Olle
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Terenius
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D002050:Burkina Faso; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D007303:Insect Vectors; D008297:Male; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D011157:Population Dynamics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial