AUTHOR=Sharma Punita , Rani Jyoti , Chauhan Charu , Kumari Seena , Tevatiya Sanjay , Das De Tanwee , Savargaonkar Deepali , Pandey Kailash C. , Dixit Rajnikant 

TITLE=Altered Gut Microbiota and Immunity Defines Plasmodium vivax Survival in Anopheles stephensi

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00609

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2020.00609

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p>Blood-feeding enriched gut-microbiota boosts mosquitoes' anti-<italic>Plasmodium</italic> immunity. Here, we ask how <italic>Plasmodium vivax</italic> alters gut-microbiota, anti-<italic>Plasmodial</italic> immunity, and impacts tripartite <italic>Plasmodium</italic>-mosquito-microbiota interactions in the gut lumen. We used a metagenomics and RNAseq strategy to address these questions. In naïve mosquitoes, <italic>Elizabethkingia meningitis</italic> and <italic>Pseudomonas</italic> spp. are the dominant bacteria and blood-feeding leads to a heightened detection of <italic>Elizabethkingia, Pseudomonas</italic> and <italic>Serratia 16S rRNA</italic>. A parallel RNAseq analysis of blood-fed midguts also shows the presence of <italic>Elizabethkingia-related</italic> transcripts. After, <italic>P. vivax</italic> infected blood-meal, however, we do not detect bacterial 16S rRNA until circa 36 h. Intriguingly, the transcriptional expression of a selected array of antimicrobial arsenal cecropins 1–2, defensin-1, and gambicin remained low during the first 36 h—a time frame when ookinetes/early oocysts invaded the gut. We conclude during the preinvasive phase, <italic>P. vivax</italic> outcompetes midgut-microbiota. This microbial suppression likely negates the impact of mosquito immunity which in turn may enhance the survival of <italic>P. vivax</italic>. Detection of sequences matching to mosquito-associated <italic>Wolbachia</italic> opens a new inquiry for its exploration as an agent for “paratransgenesis-based” mosquito control.</p>