Biological Control of Aedes albopictus: Obtained from the New Bacterial Candidates with Insecticidal Activity

Abstract

Vector-borne deadly pathogens cause more than 700,000 deaths annually. They are transmitted by several vectors, among which the mosquito is the most important. Chemical compounds often have devastating side effects, leading to the abandonment of the majority of them. Biological control has been performed by using formulations of Bacillus sphaericus and Bacillus thuringiensis, but their intensive use has led to the emergence of resistance. Currently, the development of new alternative molecules is urgently needed, in order to use them in mosaics or in rotation with already known insecticides for the control of vectors, especially mosquitoes. Here, we attempted to identify bacterial species with potential anti-mosquito actions. Among bacterial strains isolated from dry sandy soil from Senegal, eleven strains from the Bacillales and Actinomycetales orders were chosen for the entomopathogenic activity experiments. Then, we tested their secondary metabolites, which were obtained from the supernatant fraction, and their cell wall and cytoplasmic compounds, which were found in the pellet fraction, in Aedes albopictus larvae, and compared the larval mortality rate with that obtained by using a commercial product. A total of 4/11 (36.36%) of the isolated species exhibited insecticidal activity. B. nealsonii, which is not a well-known bacterium, had the highest larvicidal effect with 70% of the larval mortality, which is highlighted for the first time. The Streptomyces species we isolated seem to be potential new species, and 3/5 (60%) of them exhibited insecticidal activity. Our study reports provide potential candidates for the identification of active molecules to be developed for strengthening the biological control of infectious diseases agents transmitted by mosquitoes.