Mosquito-plant interactions: New perspectives

With vector-borne pathogens becoming an increasingly widespread problem, investigating unexplored avenues of vector biology is more important than ever. One such developing field considers how interactions with plants impact mosquitoes. Only adult females from some species blood feed, whereas plant sugar consumption is ubiquitous. In this study, we look at which plants mosquitoes interact with in nature, survival rates with different sugars, along with proof-of-concept methodologies. Using mosquito specimens collected in the Southeast United States and Yucatán, Mexico, we identified ingested plant material using genetic barcoding. To determine whether the plants identified were a result of adult mosquitoes sugar-feeding or larval consumption of materials such as aquatic detritus or air-borne pollen that landed in the water, we barcoded recently emerged adult mosquitoes fed pollen while they were larvae. So far, we have identified plant material from several different families within field-caught adult mosquitoes, including Amaryllidaceae, Orchidaceae, and Amaranthaceae​. However, from pollen larval assays, we have found that plant material can persist up to a week after eclosion. This may explain results that include plants which do not appear to produce significant quantities of nectar or are wind-pollinated. Finally, with sugar assays still ongoing, it appears there is consistent disparity in survival results across sugar varieties. By examining these results in harmony, we add to the burgeoning research looking at how plant interactions impact mosquito vectors. In the future, we will measure factors like infection rate when mosquitoes are fed nectar constituents from plants they interact with in nature.