Anophelines harbour a diverse microbial consortium that may represent an extended gene pool for the host. The
proposed effects of the insect microbiota span physiological, metabolic and immune processes. Here we synthesise
how current metagenomic tools combined with classical culture-dependent techniques provide new insights in the
elucidation of the role of the
Anopheles
-associated microbiota. Many proposed malaria control strategies have
been based upon the immunomodulating effects that the bacterial components of the microbiota appear to exert and
their ability to express anti-
Plasmodium peptides. The number of identified bacterial taxa has increased in the current
“omics” era and the available data are mostly scattered or in “tables” that are difficult to exploit. Published
microbiota reports for multiple anopheline species were compiled in an Excel
® spreadsheet. We then filtered the
microbiota data using a continent-oriented criterion and generated a visual correlation showing the exclusive and
shared bacterial genera among four continents. The data suggested the existence of a core group of bacteria associated
in a stable manner with their anopheline hosts. However, the lack of data from Neotropical vectors may reduce
the possibility of defining the core microbiota and understanding the mosquito-bacteria interactive consortium.
