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Methylobacterium sp. isolated from the midgut of Anopheles stephensi inhibits egg maturation in host ovary

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Abstract

The gut bacteria of insects are associated with digestion, nutrition, and reproduction. The midgut bacteria of Anopheles mosquitoes have been examined predominantly for their effects on the transmission of Plasmodium parasites. However, the effects of midgut bacteria on Anopheles mosquitoes have not been studied. In this study, we investigated the effects of midgut bacteria on adult female An. stephensi mosquitoes. These mosquitoes were fed antibiotics mixed with 10% sucrose for 2 weeks to alter the composition of their midgut bacteria. The results showed that the mosquitoes fed with streptomycin (ST) or kanamycin (KM) showed inhibited egg maturation 2 days after blood feeding. Methylobacterium sp. was the predominant bacterium in the midgut of mosquitoes fed KM or ST for 2 weeks (ST/2 weeks). Mosquitoes that were fed suspensions of Methylobacterium sp. isolated from the midgut of ST/2 weeks after blood feeding for 3 days showed inhibited egg maturation. Furthermore, egg maturation was inhibited in mosquitoes that were fed supernatant and precipitate obtained by boiling and centrifuging Methylobacterium sp. suspension. Thus, this study demonstrated that Methylobacterium sp. isolated from the midgut of An. stephensi mosquitoes after blood feeding inhibited egg maturation.

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Acknowledgements

The Anopheles stephensi (STE2 strain, MRA-128) was provided by BEI Resources. This study was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI Grant Nos. 19K22371 and 22K19256 (to HI). This work would not have been possible without the assistance of Mai Tanaka, a supporting staff member in our laboratory. We would like to thank Enago (https://www.enago.com/) for their English language review.

Funding

This study was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 19K22371 and 22K19256 (to HI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Kitasato University, Towada, Aomori, 034-8628, Japan

    Jun Hakozaki, Yusuke Nonogaki, Kazuhiko Nakayama, Asako Haraguchi, Sakure Nakamura, Kodai Kusakisako & Hiromi Ikadai

  2. Laboratory of Veterinary Microbiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Kitasato University, Towada, Aomori, 034-8628, Japan

    Taishi Tanabe

  3. Laboratory of Animal Food Function, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8572, Japan

    Keita Nishiyama

Authors
  1. Jun Hakozaki
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  2. Yusuke Nonogaki
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  3. Taishi Tanabe
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  4. Keita Nishiyama
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  5. Kazuhiko Nakayama
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  6. Asako Haraguchi
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  7. Sakure Nakamura
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  8. Kodai Kusakisako
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  9. Hiromi Ikadai
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Contributions

Conceptualization, JH, YN, and HI; data curation, JH, TT, and K Nishiyama; formal analysis, JH, YN, and K Nakayama; funding acquisition, HI; investigation, JH, YN, K Nakayama, and AH; methodology, JH, YN, TT, and K Nishiyama; resources, AH, KK, TT, and SN; supervision, HI and KK; visualization, JH and SN; writing—original draft, JH, KK, and HI. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hiromi Ikadai.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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All procedures involving mice were executed in accordance with a protocol approved by the Kitasato University Animal Care and Use Committee (No. 21-031).

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Hakozaki, J., Nonogaki, Y., Tanabe, T. et al. Methylobacterium sp. isolated from the midgut of Anopheles stephensi inhibits egg maturation in host ovary. Appl Entomol Zool 58, 369–377 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-023-00842-9

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