ISSN 2375-0693
African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 12 (7), pp. 001-013, July, 2024. Available online at https://internationalscholarsjournals.org/journal/ijaerd/table-of-contents © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Exploring the Bacterial Diversity in the Midguts of Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus: A Study of Laboratory-Reared Versus Wild Specimens in Kenya
Erastus Mwaringa Mwadondo1, Amanuel Ghilamicael2, Amos Ematiti Alakonya2,3 and Remmy Wekesa Kasili2*
1Department of Zoology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P. O. Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
2Institute for Biotechnology Research, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology P. O. Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
3International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Headquarters, PMB, 5320, Ibadan Oyo State, Nigeria.
Received 5 August, 2023; Accepted 21 June, 2024
Abstract
Midgut symbiotic bacteria are known to play fundamental roles in the biology of mosquitoes, however knowledge of midgut bacterial communities associated with mosquitoes is scanty due to limitation of the isolation techniques based on culturing. In this study, the composition and diversity of midgut bacteria in field collected and lab reared adult female Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes was explored using the Illumina sequencing. Deoxyribonucleic acid was isolated from the pooled midgut extracts and their 16S rRNA gene sequenced using Illumina sequencing platform. Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were analyzed using QIIME 1.8.0; taxonomy was assigned using BLASTn against SILVA 119 and hierarchical clustering was done using R program software. Out of the total number of sequence reads obtained, 145 OTUs were realized at 3% genetic distance. The 145 OTUs spanned 12 phyla; Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria, Euryarchaeota, Gemmatimonadetes, Spirochaetae, Archeabacteria Verrucomicrobia, Chloroflexi, Bacteriodetes, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria. Microbial community composition based on OTUs showed significant difference between field collected and lab reared mosquitoes (ᵪ2 = 45.0799, p = 3.2 × 10-5). Similarly, there was a significant difference in community composition at OTU level between Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus (ᵪ2 = 31.2257, p = 7.7 × 10-4). The bacterial composition and diversity appeared to be influenced by the environment and the species of the mosquitoes.
Key words: Anopheles gambiae, Culex quinquefasciatus, midgut, DNA, diversity.