Contribution of the gut bacterial community to the nutritional ecology of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Bacterial endosymbionts play a vital role in the growth, development, and reproduction of their insect hosts, often by altering host nutrition. Bacteria are acquired by developing mosquito larvae from their aquatic environment. A number of studies have shown that the bacterial composition of the larval aquatic environment determines the composition of the endogenous bacterial flora present in the midgut of adult mosquitoes. However, the processes underlying this transition are not well understood, and the degree to which the level of bacterial richness impacts host physiology is not known. Here we evaluate the larval development rate and adult fecundity of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reared under sterile conditions in a controlled bacterial environment. Our results suggest that a non-specific, simple community is both necessary and sufficient to confer normal larval development and adult fecundity.