Bacterial Communities Associated with Culex Mosquito Larvae and Two Emergent Aquatic Plants of Bioremediation Importance.docVIP

Bacterial Communities Associated with Culex Mosquito Larvae and Two Emergent Aquatic Plants of Bioremediation Importance Dagne Duguma 1* 1 2 3 3 , Paul Rugman-Jones , Michael G. Kaufman , Michael W. Hall , Josh D. Neufeld , Richard Stouthamer , William E. Walton 1 1 1 Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, California, United States of America, 2 Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America, 3 Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Abstract Microbes are important for mosquito nutrition, growth, reproduction and control. In this study, we examined bacterial communities associated with larval mosquitoes and their habitats. Specifically, we characterized bacterial communities associated with late larval instars of the western encephalitis mosquito (Culex tarsalis), the submerged portions of two emergent macrophytes (California bulrush, Schoenoplectus californicus and alkali bulrush, Schoenoplectus maritimus), and the associated water columns to investigate potential differential use of resources by mosquitoes in different wetland habitats. Using next-generation sequence data from 16S rRNA gene hypervariable regions, the alpha diversity of mosquito gut microbial communities did not differ between pond mesocosms containing distinct monotypic plants. Proteobacteria, dominated by the genus Thorsellia (Enterobacteriaceae), was the most abundant phylum recovered from C. tarsalis larvae. Approximately 49% of bacterial OTUs found in larval mosquitoes were identical to OTUs recovered from the water column and submerged p