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Genetic structure of Anopheles gambiae populations on islands in northwestern Lake Victoria, Uganda.

ABSTRACT: Alternative means of malaria control are urgently needed. Evaluating the effectiveness of measures that involve genetic manipulation of vector populations will be facilitated by identifying small, genetically isolated vector populations. The study was designed to use variation in microsatellite markers to look at genetic structure across four Lake Victoria islands and two surrounding mainland populations and for evidence of any restriction to free gene flow.Four Islands (from 20-50 km apart) and two surrounding mainland populations (96 km apart) were studied. Samples of indoor resting adult mosquitoes, collected over two consecutive years, were genotyped at microsatellite loci distributed broadly throughout the genome and analysed for genetic structure, effective migration (Nem) and effective population size (Ne).Ne estimates showed island populations to consist of smaller demes compared to the mainland ones. Most populations were significantly differentiated geographically, and from one year to the other. Average geographic pair-wise FST ranged from 0.014-0.105 and several pairs of populations had Ne m < 3. The loci showed broad heterogeneity at capturing or estimating population differences.These island populations are significantly genetically differentiated. Differences reoccurred over the study period, between the two mainland populations and between each other. This appears to be the product of their separation by water, dynamics of small populations and local adaptation. With further characterisation these islands could become possible sites for applying measures evaluating effectiveness of control by genetic manipulation.

SUBMITTER: Kayondo JK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1327676 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Genetic structure of Anopheles gambiae populations on islands in northwestern Lake Victoria, Uganda.

Kayondo Jonathan K JK Mukwaya Louis G LG Stump Aram A Michel Andrew P AP Coulibaly Mamadou B MB Besansky Nora J NJ Collins Frank H FH

Malaria journal 20051209

<h4>Background</h4>Alternative means of malaria control are urgently needed. Evaluating the effectiveness of measures that involve genetic manipulation of vector populations will be facilitated by identifying small, genetically isolated vector populations. The study was designed to use variation in microsatellite markers to look at genetic structure across four Lake Victoria islands and two surrounding mainland populations and for evidence of any restriction to free gene flow.<h4>Methods</h4>Fou ...[more]

PMID: 16336684

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Project description:BackgroundMalaria is the leading cause of global paediatric mortality in children below 5 years of age. The number of fatalities has reduced significantly due to an expansion of control interventions but the development of new technologies remains necessary in order to achieve elimination. Recent attention has been focused on the release of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes into natural vector populations as a mechanism of interrupting parasite transmission but despite successful in vivo laboratory studies, a detailed population genetic assessment, which must first precede any proposed field trial, has yet to be undertaken systematically. Here, the genetic structure of Anopheles gambiae populations in north-western Lake Victoria is explored to assess their suitability as candidates for a pilot field study release of GM mosquitoes.Methods478 Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes were collected from six locations and a subset (N?=?96) was selected for restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq). The resulting single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker set was analysed for effective size (Ne), connectivity and population structure (PCA, FST).Results5175 high-quality genome-wide SNPs were identified. A principal components analysis (PCA) of the collinear genomic regions illustrated that individuals clustered in concordance with geographic origin with some overlap between sites. Genetic differentiation between populations was varied with inter-island comparisons having the highest values (median FST 0.0480-0.0846). Ne estimates were generally small (124.2-1920.3).ConclusionsA reduced-representation SNP marker set for genome-wide An. gambiae genetic analysis in the north-western Lake Victoria basin is reported. Island populations demonstrated low to moderate genetic differentiation and greater structure suggesting some limitation to migration. Smaller estimates of Ne indicate that an introduced effector transgene will be more susceptible to genetic drift but to ensure that it is driven to fixation a robust gene drive mechanism will likely be needed. These findings, together with their favourable location and suitability for frequent monitoring, indicate that the Ssese Islands contain several candidate field locations, which merit further evaluation as potential GM mosquito pilot release sites.

Project description:The African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto (A. gambiae), provides a unique opportunity to study the evolution of reproductive isolation because it is divided into two sympatric, partially isolated subtaxa known as M form and S form. With the annotated genome of this species now available, high-throughput techniques can be applied to locate and characterize the genomic regions contributing to reproductive isolation. In order to quantify patterns of differentiation within A. gambiae, we hybridized population samples of genomic DNA from each form to Affymetrix GeneChip microarrays. We found that three regions, together encompassing less than 2.8 Mb, are the only locations where the M and S forms are significantly differentiated. Two of these regions are adjacent to centromeres, on Chromosomes 2L and X, and contain 50 and 12 predicted genes, respectively. Sequenced loci in these regions contain fixed differences between forms and no shared polymorphisms, while no fixed differences were found at nearby control loci. The third region, on Chromosome 2R, contains only five predicted genes; fixed differences in this region were also verified by direct sequencing. These "speciation islands" remain differentiated despite considerable gene flow, and are therefore expected to contain the genes responsible for reproductive isolation. Much effort has recently been applied to locating the genes and genetic changes responsible for reproductive isolation between species. Though much can be inferred about speciation by studying taxa that have diverged for millions of years, studying differentiation between taxa that are in the early stages of isolation will lead to a clearer view of the number and size of regions involved in the genetics of speciation. Despite appreciable levels of gene flow between the M and S forms of A. gambiae, we were able to isolate three small regions of differentiation where genes responsible for ecological and behavioral isolation are likely to be located. We expect reproductive isolation to be due to changes at a small number of loci, as these regions together contain only 67 predicted genes. Concentrating future mapping experiments on these regions should reveal the genes responsible for reproductive isolation between forms.

Project description:BackgroundAnopheles gambiae continues to be widespread and an important malaria vector species complex in Uganda. New approaches to malaria vector control are being explored including population suppression through swarm reductions and genetic modification involving gene drives. Designing and evaluating these new interventions require good understanding of the biology of the target vectors. Anopheles mosquito swarms have historically been hard to locate in Uganda and therefore have remained poorly characterized. In this study we sought to identify and characterize An. gambiae s.l mosquito swarms in three study sites of high An. gambiae s.l prevalence within Central Uganda.MethodsNine sampling visits were made to three villages over a 2-year period. Sampling targeted both wet and dry seasons and was done for 2 days per village during each trip, using sweep nets. All swarm data were analysed using the JMP 14 software (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, USA), parametrically or non-parametrically as appropriate.ResultsMost of the An. gambiae s.s. swarms sampled during this study were single-species swarms. However, some mixed An. gambiae s.s. and Culex spp. mosquito swarms were also observed. Swarms were larger in the wet season than in the dry season. Mean swarm height ranged from 2.16 m to 3.13 m off the ground and only varied between villages but not by season. Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes were present in all three villages, preferred to swarm over bare ground markers, and could be effectively sampled by field samplers.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that An. gambiae s.l swarms could be effectively located and sampled in South Central Uganda and provided in-depth descriptions of hitherto poorly understood aspects of An. gambiae local swarm characteristics. Swarms were found close to inhabited households and were greater in size and number during the rainy season. Anopheles gambiae s.s swarms were significantly associated with bare ground markers and were sometimes at heights over 4 m above the ground, showing a necessity to develop tools suitable for swarm sampling at these heights. While mixed species swarms have been reported before elsewhere, this is the first documented instance of mixed genus swarms found in Uganda and should be studied further as it could have implications for swarm sampling explorations where multiple species of mosquitoes exist.

Dataset Information

Genetic structure of Anopheles gambiae populations on islands in northwestern Lake Victoria, Uganda.

Publications

Genetic structure of Anopheles gambiae populations on islands in northwestern Lake Victoria, Uganda.

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