Natural variation in timing of egg hatching, response to water agitation, and bidirectional selection of early and late hatching strains of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae sensu lato

Abstract Background Eggs of anopheline mosquitoes hatch within a few days of laying and require high levels of humidity to survive. Assessing natural variation in egg hatching and its environmental and genetic determinants in sibling species of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae s.l. is important for understanding their adaptation to variable aquatic habitats. Crucially, it can also inform insectary rearing practices toward the optimization of mosquito production for genetic vector control strategies. Methods Hatching rates and timing of egg hatching in long-established and recently colonized strains of An. gambiae s.s, Anopheles arabiensis, and Anopheles coluzzii, were compared under still water conditions (26 ℃) and with cold (4 ℃) and (15 ℃) water agitation regimes. Next, early and late hatching strains of the recently colonized An. coluzzii VK colony were generated through bidirectional selection for 18–23 generations to detect a genetic component for this trait. Results Hatching rates differed significantly between species and treatments. The older An. arabiensis Senn and An. gambiae s.s. Kisumu strains had the highest proportion of hatching and preferred the nonagitation treatment at 26 °C. In contrast, the more recently colonized An. coluzzii VK and An. arabiensis Rufisque strains had lower overall hatching success but responded strongly to agitation at 4 °C, while the An. coluzzii Mopti strain did not significantly respond to water agitation. In all strains, eggs hatching started at day 2 and continued till day 5 in the older strains, whilst it was more staggered and extended up to day 6 in the younger strains. Bidirectional selection for early and late hatching over many generations resulted in early hatching selected strains with eggs hatching 2–3 days earlier than in late hatching ones indicating a significant heritable component for these traits. Conclusions Water agitation and temperature and age of colonization are likely important determinants of egg hatching in natural An. gambiae s.l. populations. Current rearing protocols systematically select for fast hatching and result in the progressive loss of staggered egg hatching in older laboratory strains. The selection of novel slow-hatching strains may prove instrumental to enable the mass production, shipping, and release of Anopheles mosquitoes across Africa as part of genetic vector control programs. Graphical Abstract