MOSQUITO MICROBIOMES OF RWANDA: CHARACTERIZING MOSQUITO HOST AND MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN THE LAND OF A THOUSAND HILLS

Mosquitoes are a complex nuisance around the world, and tropical countries bear the greatest brunt of the burden of mosquito-borne diseases. Rwanda has had success in reducing malaria and some arboviral diseases over the last few years, but still faces challenges to elimination. By building our understanding of in situ mosquito communities in Rwanda at a disturbed, human-occupied site and at a natural, preserved site, we can build our understanding of natural mosquito microbiomes toward the goal of implementing novel microbial control methods. Here, we examined the composition of collected mosquitoes and their microbiomes at two diverse sites using Cytochrome c Oxidase I sequencing and 16S V4 barcode sequencing. The majority of mosquitoes captured and characterized in this study are the first-known record of their species for Rwanda but have been characterized in other nations in East Africa. Beta diversity metrics were significantly different between sampling sites, mosquito genera, and mosquito species, but not between mosquito sexes, catch method, or presumed bloodfed status. Bacteria of interest for arbovirus control, Asaia, Serratia , and Wolbachia , were found in abundance at both sites, but were more prevalent at the disturbed site and varied greatly by species. Additional studies to build our understanding of naturally-formed microbial communities are essential to safely employing microbial control methods and further reducing the burden of mosquito-borne diseases.