A population genetics study of Anopheles darlingi (Diptera: Culicidae) from Colombia based on random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction and amplified fragment lenght polymorphism markers

Abstract

The genetic variation and population structure of three populations of Anopheles darlingi from Colombia were studied using random amplified polymorphic markers (RAPDs) 001). The F ST distances and AMOVAs using AFLP loci support the differentiation of the Guyana biogeographic province population from those of the Chocó-Magdalena. In this last region, Chocó and Córdoba populations showed the highest genetic flow.Key words: amplified fragment length polymorphism -Anopheles darlingi -genetic diversity -malaria vectors -random amplified polymorphic DNA -polymerase chain reaction -ColombiaAnopheles darlingi is recognized as the most anthropophillic and endophagous species of Anopheles in the Americas (Fleming 1986), the primary malaria vector in the Neotropics (Conn et al. 2001), and is considered the most important malaria vector in the Amazon Basin . It is most frequently found in the hot and humid lowlands, with a discontinuous distribution from Southern Mexico to Northern Argentina, but not reported in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama (Linthicum 1988, Manguin et al. 1999. In Colombia, it is found up to an altitude of 450 m in the premontane zone of the Andes (Fleming 1986), which is characterized by three large mountain ranges and variety of geographic features ( Fig. 1) that clearly separate the eastern from the western regions and possibly limit the free gene flow between these regions.Based on the original description of An. darlingi by Root (1926), phenotypic variation and differences in hematophagous behavior have contributed to generating a certain degree of confusion regarding its specific taxonomic status (Galvão et al. 1937, Galvão & Barreto 1938, Galvão 1940, Linthicum 1988, Rubio-Palis 1998. Given the foregoing and the great importance of this species, a series of population studies were conducted, using morphological and molecular tools (Manguin 1999), oriented toward clarifying both taxonomic status and genetic structure within its range of distribution. Lounibos and Conn (2000) recently reviewed the use of molecular markers in the study of the ecology and genetics of An. darlingi. Its biting behavior was summarized by Rosa-Freitas et al. (1992), andZimmerman (1992) demonstrated great variability in post-blood feeding/resting behavior. Depending on the region of study, one, two, and even three peaks of major biting activity have been observed, as well as variation in the extension or time interval of peak hematophagous activity. Hudson (1984) and Klein and Lima (1990) suggest that this indicates the existence of a species complex. Nevertheless, from morphological studies did not reveal substantial differences among populations throughout the area of distribution, including populations in isolated zones (Linthicum 1988, Rubio-Palis 1998, Manguin et al. 1999. According to Linthicum (1988) the diagnostic characters are very constant, even for the Guatemalan and Honduran populations and interpopulational variation is almost equal to intrapopulational variation.Additionally, several studies on this spe...

Microgeographic Genetic Variation of the Malaria Vector Anopheles darlingi Root (Diptera: Culicidae) from Córdoba and Antioquia, Colombia

“…Our data agree with previous work conducted on An. darlingi populations from three regions in western and southeastern Colombia, in localities from Antioquia, Chocó, and Meta, 31,32 although those studies did not examine the same molecular markers we examined in our study. Our data also showed that high gene flow among An.…”

“…darlingi populations from northwestern (Córdoba), western (Chocó) and southern Colombia (Meta), using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and RAPDs estimated F ST values that were congruent with high gene flow among western populations (Córdoba and Chocó) and suggested that the overall genetic differences observed (RAPD F ST = 0.084, AFLP F ST = 0.229) could be attributed to the biogeographic characteristics of each particular region. 31,32 Previous studies have made significant contributions to the population structure, evolutionary processes and demographic history of An. darlingi .…”

Genetic differences based on AFLP markers in the mosquito species Anopheles darlingi collected in versus near houses in the region of Porto Velho, RO, Brazil

“…González et al (2007) found average values of 0.374 and 0.309 with RAPD and Genetic differences in Anopheles darlingi AFLP markers, respectively. Santos et al (1999) found values ranging from 0.290 to 0.375 for populations of different states of Brazil.…”

“…González et al (2007) give estimates of within population variation of 92%, using RAPD markers, and 77% with AFLP, in populations of A. darlingi in Colombia. It must be noted that the sampled populations are not only much more distant than ours, but they are separated by mountains.…”

Analysis of the genetic variability and structure of Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus (Diptera: Culicidae) populations from the Colombian Atlantic coast on the basis of random amplified polymorphic DNA markers

“…RAPD-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique that generates markers by the amplification of random DNA segments with single primers of arbitrary nucleotide sequence (Williams et al, 1990). These molecular markers have been successfully used in genetic variability studies; they were applied to natural populations of different mosquito species including Aedes albifasciatus (de Sousa et al, 1999), Aedes (Finlaya) japonicus (Fonseca et al, 2001), Aedes albopictus (Ayres et al, 2002), Anopheles nuñeztovari (Posso et al, 2003), Anopheles superpictus and Anopheles pulcherrimus (Abramova et al, 2005), Anopheles darlingi (González et al, 2007), and Aedes aegypti (Julio et al, 2009). However, there are no reports of studies performed on the genetics of O. taeniorhynchus populations on the Colombian Atlantic coast using these types of markers.…”