Effects of Mosquito Microbiota on the Survival Cost and Development Success of Avian Plasmodium.

ABSTRACT: Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect the capacity of mosquitoes for the transmission of vector-borne pathogens. Among them, mosquito microbiota may play a key role determining the development of pathogens in mosquitoes and the cost of infections. Here, we used a wild avian malaria-mosquito assemblage model to experimentally test the role of vector microbiota on the cost of infection and their consequences for parasite development. To do so, a cohort of Culex pipiens mosquitoes were treated with antibiotics, including gentamicin sulfate and penicillin-streptomycin, to alter their microbiota, and other cohort was treated with sterilized water as controls. Subsequently, both cohorts were allowed to feed on Plasmodium infected or uninfected house sparrows (Passer domest

SUBMITTER: Martinez-de la Puente J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7838439 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature