Genetic population structure of Anopheles gambiae in Equatorial Guinea

doi:10.1186/1475-2875-6-137

Malaria Journal

Volume 6

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Moreno M
Salgueiro P
Vicente JL
Cano J
Berzosa PJ
de Lucio A
Simard F
Caccone A
Do Rosario VE
Pinto J
Benito A

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Moreno M
Salgueiro P
Vicente JL
Cano J
Berzosa PJ
de Lucio A
Simard F
Caccone A
Do Rosario VE
Pinto J
Benito A
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Research

Genetic population structure of Anopheles gambiae in Equatorial Guinea

Marta Moreno¹ , Patricia Salgueiro² , José Luis Vicente² , Jorge Cano¹^,3 , Pedro J Berzosa¹ , Aida de Lucio¹ , Frederic Simard⁴^,5 , Adalgisa Caccone⁶ , Virgilio E Do Rosario² , João Pinto² and Agustín Benito¹

¹Centro Nacional de Medicina Tropical. Instituto de Salud Carlos III. C/Sinesio Delgado 4, 28029 Madrid, Spain

²Centro de Malária e outras Doenças Tropicais, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

³Centro de Referencia para el Control de Endemias. Centro Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Bata, Equatorial Guinea

⁴Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Unité 016, Montpellier, France

⁵Organisation de Coordination pour la Lutte contre les Endémies en Afrique Centrale, Yaoundé, Cameroun

⁶Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, USA

author email corresponding author email

Malaria Journal 2007, 6:137doi:10.1186/1475-2875-6-137


Published:	15 October 2007

Abstract

Background

Patterns of genetic structure among mosquito vector populations in islands have received particular attention as these are considered potentially suitable sites for experimental trials on transgenic-based malaria control strategies. In this study, levels of genetic differentiation have been estimated between populations of Anopheles gambiae s.s. from the islands of Bioko and Annobón, and from continental Equatorial Guinea (EG) and Gabon.

Methods

Genotyping of 11 microsatellite loci located in chromosome 3 was performed in three island samples (two in Bioko and one in Annobón) and three mainland samples (two in EG and one in Gabon). Four samples belonged to the M molecular form and two to the S-form. Microsatellite data was used to estimate genetic diversity parameters, perform demographic equilibrium tests and analyse population differentiation.

Results

High levels of genetic differentiation were found between the more geographically remote island of Annobón and the continent, contrasting with the shallow differentiation between Bioko island, closest to mainland, and continental localities. In Bioko, differentiation between M and S forms was higher than that observed between island and mainland samples of the same molecular form.

Conclusion

The observed patterns of population structure seem to be governed by the presence of both physical (the ocean) and biological (the M-S form discontinuity) barriers to gene flow. The significant degree of genetic isolation between M and S forms detected by microsatellite loci located outside the "genomic islands" of speciation identified in A. gambiae s.s. further supports the hypothesis of on-going incipient speciation within this species. The implications of these findings regarding vector control strategies are discussed.