Vertical transmission of mosquito microbiota and its effects on offspring development
8 affiliations
- 1Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 USA
- 2Microbiology Doctoral Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 USA
- 3Departments of Vector Biology and Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, L3 5QA UK
- 4School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Manchester, M5 4WT UK
- 5Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555 USA
- 6School of Life Sciences, Keele University, Keele, ST5 5BG UK
- 7Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G4 0RE UK
- 8Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 USA
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.
Results: 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.
Conclusions: 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
Video Abstract
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8.
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BibTeX
@article{nichols2026vertical,
title = {{Vertical transmission of mosquito microbiota and its effects on offspring development}},
author = {Holly L. Nichols and Laura E. Brettell and Miguel A. Saldaña and Shivanand Hegde and Eva Heinz and Kathy Vaccaro and Grant L. Hughes and Kerri L. Coon},
journal = {Microbiome},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Vertical transmission of mosquito microbiota and its effects on offspring development
AU - Holly L. Nichols
AU - Laura E. Brettell
AU - Miguel A. Saldaña
AU - Shivanand Hegde
AU - Eva Heinz
AU - Kathy Vaccaro
AU - Grant L. Hughes
AU - Kerri L. Coon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/30
JO - Microbiome
DO - 10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8
AB - 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. Results: 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. Conclusions: 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 Video Abstract Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02477-8.
SN - 2049-2618
ER -