Fungi from Anopheles darlingi Root, 1926, larval breeding sites in the Brazilian Amazon

PLoS One. 2024 Dec 5;19(12):e0312624. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312624. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

The fungi present in the breeding waters of mosquitoes have been scarcely investigated. This work explored the diversity of cultivable fungi present in the breeding sites of the South American malaria vector mosquito Anopheles darlingi. Water samples were collected from four sites located in the municipalities of Coari and São Gabriel da Cachoeira and four different culture media were used for the isolation of fungi. Two-hundred-and-six fungal strains were isolated and morphologically similar fungi were grouped into 30 morphotypes. Their taxonomic identities were assigned by macro and microscopic observations and sequencing of rDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2). Representatives of 26 morphotypes were identified at the genus level, one only at the family level, and three were not identified. The identified morphotypes belong to the phyla, Ascomycota (80.6%), Basidiomycota (11.7%), and Mucoromycota (2.4%), distributed in five classes, ten orders, 25 families, and 26 genera. This study fills a considerable knowledge gap about the fungi present in the breeding sites of An. darlingi mosquitoes.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anopheles* / genetics
  • Anopheles* / microbiology
  • Brazil
  • Fungi* / classification
  • Fungi* / genetics
  • Fungi* / isolation & purification
  • Larva* / microbiology
  • Mosquito Vectors / microbiology
  • Phylogeny

Grants and funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brazil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001, by the project Pró-Amazônia: Biodiversidade e Sustentabilidade (process number 23038.009442/2013-12) and FAPEAM. This study is part of the doctoral thesis of MRO (Universidade Federal do Amazonas). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.