Geographic diversity in bacterial flora from the midguts and diverticula of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes

Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria continue to cause significant global morbidity and mortality, and few good preventative measures exist. One proposed mechanism for targeting a pathogen is paratransgenesis, where the vector’s bacterial symbionts are engineered to produce anti-pathogen molecules that prevent infection of the vector. In order for this to succeed, it is important to understand the resident flora found in natural populations of mosquitoes. We have investigated the variation in bacterial isolates from Aedes albopictus from three collection sites in the mid-Atlantic: Asheville, NC, Radford, VA, and Virginia Beach, VA. Twenty-nine, 21, and 20 mosquitoes were collected from the three sites, respectively. Ninety-one bacterial isolates were cultured from these individuals, with a range of zero to nine isolates per mosquito. The Asheville population yielded bacteria from 17 taxa, Radford gave 7, and Virginia Beach produced at least 10. Each population produced at least one taxon that was unique to the location, while isolates belonging to the Pseudomonas, Gluconobacter, and Pantoea/Enterobacter genera were common to all three. This represents the first description of variability in Aedes albopictus bacterial populations and expands the number of bacterial isolates from that species.