Carryover effects of larval exposure to different environmental bacteria drive adult trait variation in a mosquito vector

Laura B Dickson (1) , Davy Jiolle (2, 1, 3) , Guillaume Minard (4, 5) , Isabelle Moltini-Conclois (1) , Stevenn Volant (6, 7) , Amine Ghozlane (8, 6) , Christiane B Bouchier (8) , Diego Ayala (2, 3) , Christophe Paupy (2, 3) , Claire Valiente Moro (4) , Louis Lambrechts (1)

1 IVI - Interactions Virus-Insectes
2 CIRMF - Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville
3 MIVEGEC-DEEVA - Diversity, ecology, evolution & Adaptation of arthropod vectors
4 LEM - Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne - UMR 5557
5 Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki
6 C3BI - Centre de Bioinformatique, Biostatistique et Biologie Intégrative
7 Hub Bioinformatique et Biostatistique - Bioinformatics and Biostatistics HUB
8 Biomics

Conditions experienced during larval development of holometabolous insects can affect adult traits, but whether differences in the bacterial communities of larval development sites contribute to variation in the ability of insect vectors to transmit human pathogens is unknown. We addressed this question in the mosquito Aedes aegypti, a major arbo-virus vector breeding in both sylvatic and domestic habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa. Targeted metagenomics revealed differing bacterial communities in the water of natural breeding sites in Gabon. Experimental exposure to different native bacterial isolates during larval development resulted in significant differences in pupation rate and adult body size but not life span. Larval exposure to an Enterobacteriaceae isolate resulted in decreased antibacterial activity in adult hemolymph and reduced dengue virus dissemination titer. Together, these data provide the proof of concept that larval exposure to different bacteria can drive variation in adult traits underlying vectorial capacity. Our study establishes a functional link between larval ecology, environmental microbes, and adult phenotypic variation in a holo-metabolous insect vector.

Domaines: Zoologie des invertébrés; Interactions entre organismes

Laura B Dickson, Davy Jiolle, Guillaume Minard, Isabelle Moltini-Conclois, Stevenn Volant, et al.. Carryover effects of larval exposure to different environmental bacteria drive adult trait variation in a mosquito vector. Science Advances , 2017, 3 (8), pp.e1700585. ⟨10.1126/sciadv.1700585⟩. ⟨hal-01580399⟩