Figure 3. mosGCTLs contribute to the maintenance of gut microbiota in A. aegypti and C. pipiens pallens.

a, Knockdown of mosGCTLs reduced the abundance of gut microbiota in A. aegypti. The microbial load in the midgut was determined 3 days (i) and 6 days (ii) after gene silencing by qPCR using universal bacterial primers. b, Immuno-blockade of mosGCTLs repressed the enormous growth of the gut microbiota after blood feeding. Antisera against mosGCTL-29 and mosGCTL-32 were fed together with fresh human blood. Mosquitoes fed a pre-immune antibody served as the mock controls. The microbial load in the midgut was determined at 24 h (i) and 48 h (ii) by qPCR. c, The role of mosGCTL orthologues in systemic E. coli inoculation of C. pipiens pallens. Ten mosGCTL orthologues to mosGCTL-29/mosGCTL-32 were individually silenced through thoracic microinjection of dsRNA in C. pipiens pallens. At least 12 mosquitoes were included in each group. d, Knockdown of a mosGCTL orthologue (CPIJ007869) reduced the burden of the gut microbiota in C. pipiens pallens. The microbial load in the midgut was determined 3 days (i) and 6 days (ii) after dsRNA inoculation by qPCR. One dot represents one mosquito gut. The horizontal line represents the median of the results. The results were combined from at least two biologically independent experiments. Data were analysed using the non-parametric Mann–Whitney test.