Production of germ-free mosquitoes via transient colonisation allows stage-specific investigation of host-microbiota interactions.

ABSTRACT: The mosquito microbiota impacts the physiology of its host and is essential for normal larval development, thereby influencing transmission of vector-borne pathogens. Germ-free mosquitoes generated with current methods show larval stunting and developmental deficits. Therefore, functional studies of the mosquito microbiota have so far mostly been limited to antibiotic treatments of emerging adults. In this study, we introduce a method to produce germ-free Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. It is based on reversible colonisation with bacteria genetically modified to allow complete decolonisation at any developmental stage. We show that, unlike germ-free mosquitoes previously produced using sterile diets, reversibly colonised mosquitoes show no developmental retardation and reach the same size as con

SUBMITTER: Romoli O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7878806 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature