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Mitochondrial and microbial diversity of the invasive mosquito vector species Culex tritaeniorhynchus across its extensive inter-continental geographic range

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Jeffries, Claire L., Tantely, Luciano M, Kadriaj, Perparim, Blagrove, Marcus S C, Lytra, Ioanna, Orsborne, James, Al-Amin, Hasan Mohammad, Mohammed, Abdul Rahim, Alam, Mohammad Shafiul, Girod, Romain, Afrane, Yaw A, Bino, Silvia, Robert, Vincent, Boyer, Sebastien, Baylis, Matthew, Velo, Enkelejda, Hughes, Grant ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7567-7185 and Walker, Thomas (2024) 'Mitochondrial and microbial diversity of the invasive mosquito vector species Culex tritaeniorhynchus across its extensive inter-continental geographic range'. Wellcome Open Research, Vol 9, p. 18.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.20761.1

Abstract

Background
Culex (Cx.) tritaeniorhynchus is an invasive mosquito species with an extensive and expanding inter-continental distribution, currently reported across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and now Australia. It is an important vector of medical and veterinary pathogens which cause significant morbidity and mortality in human and animal populations. Across regions endemic for Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), Cx. tritaeniorhynchus is considered the major vector and has also been shown to contribute to the transmission of several other zoonotic arboviruses including Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) and West Nile virus (WNV).

Methods
In this study, we used laboratory vector competence experiments to determine if Cx. tritaeniorhynchus from a Southern European population were competent JEV vectors. We also obtained samples from multiple geographically dispersed Cx. tritaeniorhynchus populations from countries within Europe, Africa, Eurasia and Asia to perform phylogenetic analysis to measure the level of mitochondrial divergence using the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene. We also undertook bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to determine microbial diversity and used multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) to determine any evidence for the presence of strains of the naturally occurring endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia.

Results
Cx. tritaeniorhynchus from a Greek population were shown be be competent vectors of JEV with high levels of virus present in saliva. We found a signficant level of mitochondrial genetic diversity using the mosquito CO1 gene between geographically dispersed populations. Furthermore, we report diverse microbiomes identified by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing within and between geographical populations. Evidence for the detection of the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia was confirmed using Wolbachia-specific PCR and MLST.

Conclusions
This study enhances our understanding of the diversity of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus and the associated microbiome across its inter-continental range and highlights the need for greater surveillance of this invasive vector species in Europe.

Item Type:

Article

Uncontrolled Keywords:

NOT_LSTM

Subjects:

QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 510 Mosquitoes
QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 650 Insect vectors

Repository link:

Item title	Item URI
Dataset for the article: Mitochondrial and microbial diversity of the invasive mosquito vector species Culex tritaeniorhynchus across its extensive inter-continental geographic range	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/24015

Faculty: Department:

Biological Sciences > Vector Biology Department

Digital Object Identifer (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.20761.1

SWORD Depositor:

JISC Pubrouter

Depositing User:

JISC Pubrouter

Date Deposited:

09 Feb 2024 15:07

Last Modified:

31 Oct 2024 16:54