{
  "abstract": "Background: The mosquito’s gut microbiota plays a crucial role in determining its capacity to transmit harmful viruses and parasites. Accordingly, manipulating mosquito gut microbiota is a promising avenue for reducing the transmission of mosquito-borne human pathogens. A successful microbial control campaign will require a thorough understanding of how bacteria are transmitted within mosquito populations. In two parallel but complementary studies using the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti as a focal host species, we surveyed the vertical transmission of bacteria from individual mothers to cohorts of offspring maintained in a closed system.\n\nResults: Laboratory- and field-derived mothers deposited bacteria that support offspring development, and the relative abundances of commonly transmitted taxa correlated with offspring fitness. Maternally transmitted bacteria were detected in both larval and adult offspring, and the relative abundances of specific taxa differed between life stages. Microbiota composition in adult offspring closely resembled that of mothers, despite dramatic shifts in the relative abundance of specific community members during the larval stage. Variability in microbiota composition among offspring was also greater than variability across the population of egg-laying mothers. Eggs that underwent a period of desiccation before hatching produced larval communities dominated by endospore-forming bacteria that were rare in maternal samples.\n\nConclusions: Overall, our results demonstrate vertical transmission of mosquito-associated microbiota across generations, including bacterial taxa that could potentially be leveraged for mosquito and mosquito-borne disease control\n\nVideo Abstract\n\nSupplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 USA",
    "Microbiology Doctoral Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 USA",
    "Departments of Vector Biology and Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, L3 5QA UK",
    "School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Manchester, M5 4WT UK",
    "Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555 USA",
    "School of Life Sciences, Keele University, Keele, ST5 5BG UK",
    "Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G4 0RE UK",
    "Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 USA"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Holly L. Nichols"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Laura E. Brettell"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Miguel A. Saldaña"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Shivanand Hegde"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Eva Heinz"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Kathy Vaccaro"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Grant L. Hughes"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Kerri L. Coon",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2701-5195"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6acmepdke1c0w.bib",
  "cited_by": 2,
  "doi": "10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13711774/",
  "id": "6acmepdke1c0w",
  "issns": [
    "2049-2618"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Research"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1109|Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W4417414790",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13711774",
  "pmid": "42934733",
  "published": "2026-07-30",
  "publisher": "BMC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6acmepdke1c0w.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:22:29Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13711774",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1109|Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences",
      "subfield": "zoology-behaviour"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Vertical transmission of mosquito microbiota and its effects on offspring development",
  "title_text": "Vertical transmission of mosquito microbiota and its effects on offspring development",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T12:22:29Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6acmepdke1c0w",
  "venue": "Microbiome",
  "versions": []
}