Muktadir Shahid Hossain

Title : Isolation of a mosquito larvicidal strain of Providencia vermicola

Abstract:

Mosquito-borne diseases are a serious concern for many countries in Africa and Asia. As alternatives to environment polluting chemical insecticides biocontrol agents like entomopathogenic (insect killing) organisms like bacteria (EPB) are needed to be isolated to control mosquito population. Here, we used the larvae of the lepidopteran insect, Bombyx mori (commonly called silkworm) as a bait to isolate entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) from soil samples collected from various regions of Bangladesh. These EPNs harbor EPB in their gut that can kill host insects after being infected by the nematodes. We buried Bombyx larvae with soil samples and monitored appearance of nematodes on the dead larvae. The isolated nematodes were sequenced and found to be entomopathogenic (Heterorhabditis indica and Oscheius chongmingensis). To isolate bacteria from the EPNs, the abdominal legs of silkworm larvae infected with the nematodes were excised to collect hemolymph (blood) which was cultured in NBTA agar medium that is selective for isolation of EPB. The isolated bacteria were sequenced and among the bacteria identified, we performed mosquito larvicidal bioassay using Providencia vermicola due a previous report by another group that this bacterium can kill mosquito larvae. The P. vermicola strain isolated in this study killed larvae of Aedes aegypti or wild-collected larvae obtained from local drainage systems with ~50% efficiency in bioassays conduced in laboratory conditions. These results indicate that the P. vermicola strain isolated in this study can be used directly a biocontrol agent or as a component of an integrated pest management strategy to control mosquito population.
What will audience learn from your presentation?

• The study is important to emphasize the importance of using entomopathogenic bacteria as a pest management strategy.
• This study will facilitate other researchers to design integrated pest management strategies to control mosquito population.

Biography:

Muktadir S. Hossain completed his graduation on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Dhaka in 2000. He completed his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2004. He joined NCI, NIH, USA with a Fogarty Cancer Research Training Award as post-doctoral fellow. He worked as a Senior Research Fellow in Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, China. He was serving as a Research Professor in the Jeonbuk National University, South Korea before joining North South University as an Associate Professor.