Melanotic pathology and vertical transmission of the gut commensal Elizabethkingia meningoseptica in the major malaria vector Anopheles gambiae.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The resident gut flora is known to have significant impacts on the life history of the host organism. Endosymbiotic bacterial species in the Anopheles mosquito gut are potent modulators of sexual development of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium, and thus proposed as potential control agents of malaria transmission.

Results

Here we report a melanotic pathology in the major African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, caused by the dominant mosquito endosymbiont Elizabethkingiameningoseptica. Transfer of melanised tissues into the haemolymph of healthy adult mosquitoes or direct haemolymph inoculation with isolated E. meningoseptica bacteria were the only means for transmission and de novo formation of melanotic lesions, specifically in the fat body tissues of recipient

SUBMITTER: Akhouayri IG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3788111 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature