Patterns of genetic differentiation imply distinct evolutionary histories of the sibling mosquito speciesAnopheles messeaeandAnopheles daciaein Eurasia

Abstract

Detailed knowledge of phylogeography is important for control of mosquito species involved in transmission of human infectious diseases. Anopheles messeae is a geographically widespread and genetically diverse dominant vector of malaria in Eurasia. A closely related sibling species, An. daciae, was distinguished from An. messeae based on a few nucleotide differences in its ribosomal DNA. However, the mechanisms of speciation and their evolutionary histories are poorly understood. Here, we performed a large-scale population genetics analysis of 3 694 mosquitos from Eurasia to understand the species divergence, diversity, and population structure using the Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 of ribosomal DNA for species identification and frequencies of 11 polymorphic chromosomal inversions as genetic markers. The study revealed striking differences in the geographical distribution of the sibling species. The largest genetic differences between An. messeae and An. daciae were detected in the X sex chromosome suggesting that this chromosome plays a role in speciation. The frequencies of autosomal inversions differed significantly between the species, strongly supporting a restricted gene flow. The clinal variability of some inversion frequencies was revealed in both species implicating their possible involvement in climate adaptations. Statistical analysis of inversion polymorphism clearly distinguished two clusters associated with the two species and demonstrated much higher genetic diversity within An. messeae. Overall, the frequencies of hybrids in all locations were extremely low with the exception of several southeastern populations, where putative hybrids were abundant. Thus, the pattern of genetic differentiation implies dramatic differences in geographic distribution, population structure, and evolutionary histories of the sibling species An. messeae and An. daciae.

Discovery and characterization of chromosomal inversions in the arboviral vector mosquito Aedes aegypti

“…messeae a similar rearrangement, inversion 3L1, is represented by a combination of at least two inversions (Artemov et al 2021). This double inversion is widespread in natural populations in Eurasia but the two single inversions inside 3L1 were never described separately in nature (Brusentsov et al 2023). Such overlapping chromosomal inversions should lead to a greater reduction of recombination compared to single inversions.…”

“…Chromosomal inversions are important players in the evolution of diverse organisms including plants (H uang and R ieseberg 2020), vertebrate animals (F erguson-smith and T rifonov 2007; K osuthova and S olc 2023; O liveira da S ilva et al . 2024), and insects (A yala and C oluzzi 2005; F uller et al .…”

Species composition and biotopic distribution of mosquito larvae of the genus Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Upper Volga lowland

“…Отловленных личинок фиксировали в спирт-уксусной смеси, приготовленной в Климов К. С., Москаев А. В., Гордеев М. И. Видовой состав и биотопическое распределение личинок комаров рода Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae) Верхневолжской низменности // Принципы экологии. 2023. № 4.…”

“…В кариотипах личинок An. messeae s. l. регистрировали гомо-и гетерозиготные хромосомные перестройки, специфичные для этих видов (Naumenko et al, 2020;Brusentsov et al, 2023). Гомо-гетерозиготы с инверсией половой хромосомы XL 0 встречаются исключительно у An.…”

“…daciae и An. messeae, за отдельными исключениями, значимо не отклоняются от ожидаемых согласно уравнению Харди -Вайнберга (Brusentsov et al, 2023). Для разделения видов число особей An.…”