TheAedes albopictus(Diptera: Culicidae) microbiome varies spatially and with Ascogregarine infection

Author summary The microbiome is defined as a community of microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa, and viruses) living on or within a host organism. The microbiome influences physiological traits of medically important mosquitoes and can alter disease transmission dynamics in vector populations. The composition of the mosquito microbiome varies across mosquito populations; however, the factors that contribute to this variation are poorly understood. Understanding the factors that shape the mosquito microbiome will inform how mosquito-borne disease transmission varies among environments and help to develop effective disease-mitigating strategies. In this study, we assessed the diversity and variation of the microbiome of a medically important mosquito,Aedes albopictus. We found that the mosquito microbiome composition varies across geographic locations but is not affected by rainfall or temperature. We discovered that mosquitoes infected with the parasiteAscogregarina taiwanensishad a different microbiome composition than that of mosquitoes with little to no infection. This study contributes to our understanding of the factors that influence the diversity and variation in the mosquito microbiome. This and other studies like it will contribute to the development of new and innovative strategies to prevent and mitigate diseases vectored by mosquitoes. The mosquito microbiome alters the physiological traits of medically important mosquitoes, which can scale to impact how mosquito populations sustain disease transmission. The mosquito microbiome varies significantly within individual mosquitoes and among populations, however the ecological and environmental factors that contribute to this variation are poorly understood. To further understand the factors that influence variation and diversity of the mosquito microbiome, we conducted a survey of the bacterial microbiome in the medically important mosquito,Aedes albopictus, on the high Pacific island of Maui, Hawai'i. We detected three bacterial Phyla and twelve bacterial families: Proteobacteria, Acitinobacteria, and Firmicutes; and Anaplasmataceae, Acetobacteraceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Burkholderiaceae, Xanthobacteraceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Streptomycetaceae, Staphylococcaceae, Xanthomonadaceae, Beijerinckiaceae, Rhizobiaceae, and Sphingomonadaceae. TheAe.albopictusbacterial microbiota varied among geographic locations, but temperature and rainfall were uncorrelated with this spatial variation. Infection status with an ampicomplexan pathosymbiontAscogregarina taiwanensiswas significantly associated with the composition of theAe.albopictusbacteriome. The bacteriomes of mosquitoes with anA.taiwanensisinfection were more likely to include several bacterial symbionts, including the most abundant lineage ofWolbachiasp. Other symbionts likeAsaiasp. and several Enterobacteriaceae lineages were less prevalent inA.taiwanensis-infected mosquitoes. This highlights the possibility that inter- and intra-domain interactions may structure theAe.albopictusmicrobiome.