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Pseudomonas protegens Affects Mosquito Survival and Development

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Abstract

This study investigated the pathogenic potential of Pseudomonas protegens on mosquito larvae of the two species Culex pipiens and Aedes albopictus, representing major threats for disease transmission in the Mediterranean area and worldwide. The bacterium achieved to kill over 90% of the mosquito larvae within 72 h after exposition to a bacterial concentration of 100 million CFU/ml. These lethal effects were concentration dependent and a significantly higher susceptibility was associated with younger larvae of both mosquito species. Significant slowdown of immature (larval and pupal) development and decrease in adult emergence rate after treatment with sub-lethal doses of the bacterium were also detected. This study reports for the first time the insecticidal activity of a root-associated biocontrol bacterium against aquatic mosquito larvae.

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Data Availability

Data generated and analysed during this study are available from authors under reasonable request.

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Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to warmly thank Dr Christoph Keel from Université de Lausanne (Switzerland) for kindly providing the Pseudomonas protegens strain CHA0.

Funding

This study was supported by Fondazione di Sardegna, grant 2017, project “Insect Microbiome Resources” and by Department of Hygiene and Health and Social Welfare, Autonomous Region of Sardinia, RAS AOO 12-01-00 Convention n. 21 Prot. n. 22656 of 10/10/2022.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento Di Agraria, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39/A, 07100, Sassari, Italy

    Rim Hamze & Luca Ruiu

  2. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Della Sardegna, Sassari, Italy

    Cipriano Foxi, Salvatore Ledda & Giuseppe Satta

Authors
  1. Rim Hamze
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  2. Cipriano Foxi
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  3. Salvatore Ledda
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  4. Giuseppe Satta
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  5. Luca Ruiu
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Contributions

RH and LR: carried out the laboratory investigation, data curation, and wrote the original manuscript. CF, SL, and GS: conducted insect rearing and contributed to investigation. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luca Ruiu.

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Hamze, R., Foxi, C., Ledda, S. et al. Pseudomonas protegens Affects Mosquito Survival and Development. Curr Microbiol 80, 172 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-023-03291-3

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