Unveiling the interactions between components of the microbiota in different populations of mosquito vectors

Microbial communities play a crucial role in the fitness of mosquito hosts. However, the factors shaping these communities in wild populations, particularly the interactions among microbial species, remain largely unknown. Previous studies have demonstrated that two of the most studied mosquito symbionts, Wolbachia and Asaia, may exhibit competitive or non-competitive interactions depending on the genetic background of the reference mosquito host. The large diversity of Wolbachia and Asaia strain combinations infecting natural populations of mosquitoes offers a valuable opportunity to select phenotypes suitable for suppressing pathogen transmission and manipulating host reproduction. In this study, I surveyed Wolbachia and Asaia across 44 mosquito populations belonging to 11 different species within the genera Anopheles, Aedes, and Culex using qualitative PCR. Through quantitative PCR, we quantified both bacteria in different mosquito tissues and characterized the microbiota compositions in some selected mosquito populations using 16S rRNA profiling. My results show that variation in microbial community structure is likely influenced by mosquito species/strain, geographic location, and tissue-specific localization. Together, our results shed light on the interactions among different bacterial species in the microbial communities of mosquito vectors, and this can support the development and improvement of strategies for symbiotic control of insect vectors.