Anopheles mosquitoes feed on plant nectars as their main source of sugar. Wang et al. show that Asaia bacteria proliferate in the midgut of mosquitoes that feed on glucose or trehalose. Asaia increases the lumenal pH by downregulating mosquito vacuolar ATPase expression, therefore increasing Plasmodium gametogenesis and vector competence.
Keywords: Anopheles; Plasmodium; glucose; microbiome; vectorial capacity.
Published by Elsevier Ltd.