Kosakonia & Chromobacterium vs. malaria & dengue – insights into antipathogenic strategies of mosquito midgut bacteria
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Date
2018-03-05
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Malaria and dengue are arguably today’s most relevant tropical diseases vectored by Anopheles and Aedes spp. mosquitoes, respectively. Both pathogens enter the vector through a blood meal from an infected individual and inhabit the mosquito’s midgut even if briefly, encountering a plethora of antipathogenic factors. To those, there is an unequivocal contribution of the mosquito gut microbiota, as discussed herein.
In this work, we explore the role of individual members of the mosquito gut microbiota in limiting the vector’s ability to acquire and transmit Plasmodium spp. and the dengue virus. A Kosakonia isolate from an anopheline in Zambia is shown to interfere with Plasmodium development by inducing the shutdown of the parasite’s antioxidant response. A Chromobacterium species isolated from Aedes aegypti in Panama secretes an aminopeptidase that can ablate infectivity by the dengue virus, while also secreting the histone deacetylase romidepsin that can prevent P. falciparum maturation in Anopheles gambiae.
These findings constitute the first mechanistic descriptions on how certain members of the mosquito microbiota may exercise a pivotal role in the control of disease transmission, generating key knowledge towards the understanding of the dynamics of both malaria and dengue. At the same time, strategies can be devised to employ our conclusions towards the development of novel antimalarial and anti-DENV regimens, or towards the deployment of microbiota-shifting approaches by which the enrichment in pathogen-protective bacteria within field mosquito populations is promoted.
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Keywords
Mosquito, Microbiota, Transmission-blocking, Malaria, Dengue, Romidepsin, Aminopeptidase, Chromobacterium, Kosakonia