Comprehensive Profiling of Bacterial Microbiota in Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus Mosquitoes from Odisha, India Using Full-Length 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing.

Abstract

Better understanding of microbiota of mosquitoes with greater taxonomic resolution will not only enable real time comprehensive microbial profile, it might help in identification of suitable paratransgenesis candidates. It's critical to characterize mosquito microbiomes at the regional level in order to find previously unidentified organisms, including agents that may be used in vector control studies. In this study, we investigated comprehensive bacterial microbiota profiling of field-collected Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus, two major mosquito vectors of Odisha, India, by employing full-length 16S rRNA sequencing. The study identified 915 bacterial species in Ae. aegypti and 327 bacterial species in Cx. quinquefasciatus, highlighting substantial differences in microbial composition between the two species. Aedes aegypti was found to harbor a more diverse bacterial microbiota, predominantly Methylobacterium, whereas Cx. quinquefasciatus was mainly dominated by Wolbachia. The Shannon and Simpson indices of both Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus were 3.67, 0.27, and 0.94, 0.07, respectively, indicating index values were high in Ae. aegypti and very low in Cx. quinquefasciatus. This comprehensive dataset on the microbiota provides valuable insights for future research on bacterial interactions related to insecticide resistance, pathogen transmission, and other mosquito physiological processes, with the ultimate goal of developing targeted vector control measures.

Graphical abstract:

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12088-025-01492-x.