Bacterial community structure of Anopheles hyrcanus group, Anopheles nivipes, Anopheles philippinensis, and Anopheles vagus from a malaria-endemic area in Thailand

Patcharaporn Boonroumkaew; Rutchanee Rodpai; Atiporn Saeung; Kittipat Aupalee; Jassada Saingamsook; Petchaboon Poolphol; Lakkhana Sadaow; Oranuch Sanpool; Penchom Janwan; Tongjit Thanchomnang; Pewpan M Intapan; Wanchai Maleewong

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0289733

Bacterial community structure of Anopheles hyrcanus group, Anopheles nivipes, Anopheles philippinensis, and Anopheles vagus from a malaria-endemic area in Thailand

PLoS One. 2023 Aug 17;18(8):e0289733. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289733. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Patcharaporn Boonroumkaew^{1

2}, Rutchanee Rodpai^{1

2}, Atiporn Saeung³, Kittipat Aupalee³, Jassada Saingamsook³, Petchaboon Poolphol⁴, Lakkhana Sadaow^{1

2}, Oranuch Sanpool^{1

2}, Penchom Janwan⁵, Tongjit Thanchomnang⁶, Pewpan M Intapan^{1

2}, Wanchai Maleewong^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
² Mekong Health Science Research Institute, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
³ Center of Insect Vector Study, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
⁴ The Office of Disease Prevention and Control Region 10th, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand.
⁵ Department of Medical Technology, School of Allied Health Sciences, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.
⁶ Faculty of Medicine, Mahasarakham University, Kham Riang, Maha Sarakham, Thailand.

Abstract

Bacterial content of mosquitoes has given rise to the development of innovative tools that influence and seek to control malaria transmission. This study identified the bacterial microbiota in field-collected female adults of the Anopheles hyrcanus group and three Anopheles species, Anopheles nivipes, Anopheles philippinensis, and Anopheles vagus, from an endemic area in the southeastern part of Ubon Ratchathani Province, northeastern Thailand, near the Lao PDR-Cambodia-Thailand border. A total of 17 DNA libraries were generated from pooled female Anopheles abdomen samples (10 abdomens/ sample). The mosquito microbiota was characterized through the analysis of DNA sequences from the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene, and data were analyzed in QIIME2. A total of 3,442 bacterial ASVs were obtained, revealing differences in the microbiota both within the same species/group and between different species/group. Statistical difference in alpha diversity was observed between An. hyrcanus group and An. vagus and between An. nivipes and An. vagus, and beta diversity analyses showed that the bacterial community of An. vagus was the most dissimilar from other species. The most abundant bacteria belonged to the Proteobacteria phylum (48%-75%) in which Pseudomonas, Serratia, and Pantoea were predominant genera among four Anopheles species/group. However, the most significantly abundant genus observed in each Anopheles species/group was as follows: Staphylococcus in the An. hyrcanus group, Pantoea in the An. nivipes, Rosenbergiella in An. philippinensis, and Pseudomonas in An. vagus. Particularly, Pseudomonas sp. was highly abundant in all Anopheles species except An. nivipes. The present study provides the first study on the microbiota of four potential malaria vectors as a starting step towards understanding the role of the microbiota on mosquito biology and ultimately the development of potential tools for malaria control.

Copyright: © 2023 Boonroumkaew et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anopheles*
Female
Malaria* / epidemiology
Mosquito Vectors
Pantoea*
Pseudomonas
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
Thailand / epidemiology

Substances

RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Fundamental Fund of Khon Kaen University from the National Science, Research and Innovation Fund (NSRF). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.