PLoS ONE: Bacteria that live inside and on mosquitoes

It is always a good idea
to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
But a new study from North Carolina State University suggests that the bacteria-ridden appearance of mosquitoes may be another reason
to arm themselves with fly swatters.

The first-of-its-kind study, published in the journal PLoS General, looked at the outer surface and internal microbiota
of mosquitoes found in homes in Côte d'Ivoire, Africa.

"When you're exposed to mosquitoes, you worry about blood feeding," said
R.
Michael Roy, the William Neil Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Entomology at North Carolina State University and co-corresponding author of the study.
"Our hypothesis is that mosquitoes can, like flies, transfer bacteria
by landing on you or defecating on the surface of your home.

"They probably won't, but no one has
studied them before.
"

Research collaborators at the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques collected 79 adult female Anopheles
combioli from families in a rice-producing province in Côte d'Ivoire.
The mosquitoes were sent to North Carolina to analyze the microbiota
on the inside and outside of the body.

Some of the findings are surprising
.

"We found that the bacterial diversity on the inside is greater than the on the outside, for example, which doesn't match the bacterial diversity found in flies," said
Loganathan Ponnusamy, a principal investigator in entomology at North Carolina and co-corresponding author of the paper.

"At the same time, we found that there are a lot of external bacterial differences between families, but not much difference within families, which makes sense
.
" Much of what is found in the body is related to
the nectar or honey consumed by mosquitoes when foraging outdoors.
”

Kaiying Chen, a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University and first author of the paper, said the researchers also identified Bacillus fructose for the first time in the academic literature, a bacillus commonly found in nectar sources such as flowers and beehives, suggesting mosquitoes visit these plants or nectar sources
.

Perhaps worse, the researchers also found a large number of two variants
of staphylococcus and rickettsia.
These bacterial genera have been linked to
human and animal diseases.

"It's another risk," Roy said
.
"Mosquitoes carry bacteria from the outside and inside, enter your home, and can spread pathogenic bacteria
.
"

The researchers hope to continue this work, exposing mosquitoes to a bacterium never found on human skin to see if the bacteria can transfer to artificial
membranes.
They can then perform the same test
on a person's arm.

Ph.
D.
researchers Chouaōbou S.
Mouhamadou and Jean M.
Deguenon co-authored the paper, as did Behi Kouadio Fodjo, Gba Christabelle Sadia, and Paraudie Kouadio Affoue
from the Swiss Center for Scientific Research in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, Africa 。 Funding was provided by the Army Department under the Deployed Warfighter Protection (DWFP) Project grant W911QY1910003
.

Journal Reference:

1. Kaiying Chen, Loganathan Ponnusamy, Chouaï bou S.
   Mouhamadou, Behi Kouadio Fodjo, Gba Christabelle Sadia, France Paraudie Kouadio Affoue, Jean M.
   Deguenon, R.
   Michael Roe.
   Internal and external microbiota of home-caught Anopheles coluzzii (Diptera: Culicidae) from Cô te d’Ivoire, Africa: Mosquitoes are filthy.
   PLOS ONE, 2022; 17 (12): e0278912 DOI: 10.
   1371/journal.
   pone.
   0278912