Dangerous Friends

'Friendly' gut bacteria protect our digestion, immune system, and mental health. But it’s not just humans who benefit from the microbes that live within them. The Asian tiger mosquito spreads diseases like Dengue and yellow fever. It’s becoming an even greater threat as it develops resistance to the insecticides used to control it, and part of the problem is the bacteria that live inside the mosquito. Shown is a tiger mosquito gut colonised by Serratia oryzae bacteria (green). Researchers found that feeding these bacteria to mosquitos increased their ability to survive insecticide treatment. The mosquitos passed their gut bacteria, and the gift of insecticide resistance, onto their offspring. Serratia oryzae can use the poison as a food source, and they also stimulate their host to produce enzymes that detoxify it. Understanding this symbiotic relationship may inspire new ways of fighting the tiger mosquito and the diseases it spreads.

Written by Henry Stennett

Henry Stennett

Writer

Henry is a science communicator at Cancer Research UK and a freelance writer. He used to research microbiology but now he’s got the writing bug.

• Image by Haiyang Wang and colleagues
• Shandong Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jining, China
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, March 2022