16S Metagenomic Comparison of -Infected and Noninfected and Microbiota from Senegal.

In the context of the pre-elimination of malaria, biological control may provide an alternative or additional tool to current malaria control strategies. During their various stages of development, mosquitoes undergo subsequent changes in their associated microbiota, depending on their environment and nutritional status. Although s.l. and are the two major malaria vectors in Senegal, the composition of their microbiota is not yet well known. In this study, we explored the microbiota of mosquitoes naturally infected or not by () using the 16S ribosomal RNA gene-based bacterial metagenomic approach. In both vector species, the microbiota was more diverse in infected samples than in the noninfected ones, although the total number of reads appeared to be higher in noninfected mosquitoes. Overall, the microbiota was different between the two vector species. Noteworthy, the bacterial microbiota was significantly different between -positive and -negative groups whatever the species, but was similar between individuals of the same infection status within a species. Overall, the phylum of was the most predominant in both species, with bacteria of the genus outweighing the others in noninfected vectors. The presence of some specific bacterial species such as , , , and was also observed in -free samples only. These preliminary observations pave the way for further characterization of the mosquito microbiota to select promising bacterial candidates for potential use in an innovative approach to controlling malaria and overcoming the challenges to achieving a malaria-free world.