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Computational and experimental insights into the chemosensory navigation of Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae.

ABSTRACT: Mosquitoes are prolific disease vectors that affect public health around the world. Although many studies have investigated search strategies used by host-seeking adult mosquitoes, little is known about larval search behaviour. Larval behaviour affects adult body size and fecundity, and thus the capacity of individual mosquitoes to find hosts and transmit disease. Understanding vector survival at all life stages is crucial for improving disease control. In this study, we use experimental and computational methods to investigate the chemical ecology and search behaviour of Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae. We first show that larvae do not respond to several olfactory cues used by adult Ae. aegypti to assess larval habitat quality, but perceive microbial RNA as a potent foraging attractant. Second, we demonstrate that Ae. aegypti larvae use chemokinesis, an unusual search strategy, to navigate chemical gradients. Finally, we use computational modelling to demonstrate that larvae respond to starvation pressure by optimizing exploration behaviour-possibly critical for exploiting limited larval habitat types. Our results identify key characteristics of foraging behaviour in an important disease vector mosquito. In addition to implications for better understanding and control of disease vectors, this work establishes mosquito larvae as a tractable model for chemosensory behaviour and navigation.

SUBMITTER: Lutz EK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6892055 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Computational and experimental insights into the chemosensory navigation o<i>f Aedes aegypti</i> mosquito larvae.

Lutz Eleanor K EK Grewal Tjinder S TS Riffell Jeffrey A JA

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20191120 1915

Mosquitoes are prolific disease vectors that affect public health around the world. Although many studies have investigated search strategies used by host-seeking adult mosquitoes, little is known about larval search behaviour. Larval behaviour affects adult body size and fecundity, and thus the capacity of individual mosquitoes to find hosts and transmit disease. Understanding vector survival at all life stages is crucial for improving disease control. In this study, we use experimental and com ...[more]

PMID: 31744443

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Insect microbiota is a dynamic microbial community that can actively participate in defense against pathogens. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a natural entomopathogen widely used as a bioinsecticide for pest control. Although Bt's mode of action has been extensively studied, whether the presence of microbiota is mandatory for Bt to effectively kill the insect is still under debate. An association between a higher tolerance and a modified microbiota was already evidenced but a critical point remained to be solved: is the modified microbiota a cause or a consequence of a higher tolerance to Bt? METHODS:In this study we focused on the mosquito species Aedes aegypti, as no work has been performed on Diptera on this topic to date, and on B. thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), which is used worldwide for mosquito control. To avoid using antibiotics to cure bacterial microbiota, mosquito larvae were exposed to an hourly increasing dose of Bti during 25 hours to separate the most susceptible larvae dying quickly from more tolerant individuals, with longer survival. RESULTS:Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting revealed that mosquito larval bacterial microbiota was strongly affected by Bti infection after only a few hours of exposure. Bacterial microbiota from the most tolerant larvae showed the lowest diversity but the highest inter-individual differences. The proportion of Bti in the host tissue was reduced in the most tolerant larvae as compared to the most susceptible ones, suggesting an active control of Bti infection by the host. CONCLUSIONS:Here we show that a modified microbiota is associated with a higher tolerance of mosquitoes to Bti, but that it is rather a consequence of Bti infection than the cause of the higher tolerance. This study paves the way to future investigations aiming at unraveling the role of host immunity, inter-species bacterial competition and kinetics of host colonization by Bti that could be at the basis of the phenotype observed in this study.

Dataset Information

Computational and experimental insights into the chemosensory navigation of Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae.

Publications

Computational and experimental insights into the chemosensory navigation o<i>f Aedes aegypti</i> mosquito larvae.

Similar Datasets

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