An evaluation of the suitability of COI and COII gene variation for reconstructing the phylogeny of, and identifying cryptic species in, anopheline mosquitoes (Diptera Culicidae)

Abstract

We assessed the practicality and effectiveness of using variation in the mitochondrial COI and COII genes to discriminate species and reconstruct the phylogeny of anophelene mosquitoes. Phylogenetic relationships among the subfamily Anophelinae were inferred from portions of the mitochondrial COI (92 species) and COII genes (108 species). Phylogenetic trees were reconstructed on the basis of parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. The suitability of COI and COII gene variation for identifying cryptic species was compared by comparing the sequence divergence within species groups and complexes. The results show that the COI gene was more useful for identifying sibling and cryptic species, but that phylogenetic relationships reconstructed using the COII gene were more similar to those based on morphological data. We conclude that: (1) there is a significant molecular divergence among An. sinensis; (2) the COI and COII are valid genetic markers for resolving taxonomic relationships among anopheline mosquitoes and the resultant phylogeny raises some questions about the taxonomic status of anopheline species groups and complexes; (3) the genus Anopheles is not demonstrably monophyletic with regard to the genus Bironella; (4) the subgenera Kerteszia and Nyssorhynchus are monophyletic; (5) below the group-level, COI data support the existence of monophyletic taxa within the Anopheles funestus, Anopheles maculipennis and Anopheles strode and Anopheles barbirostris subgroups, and within the Anopheles nuneztovari complex, whereas COII data support the monophyletic taxa within the Anopheles minimus and Anopheles oswaldoi subgroups, and Anopheles hyrcanus group. The monophyletic taxa within the Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles albitarsis complexes are supported by both COI and COII data.

Phylogeny of Anopheles (Kerteszia) (Diptera: Culicidae) Using Mitochondrial Genes

“…cruzii were consistently separated regardless of the methodology used (analysis of mitochondrial or nuclear genes). Moreover, in our phylogenetic trees, the addition of another COI gene region as well as another mitochondrial gene (ND4) has not changed the topology of the tree, showing that the most important information is contained in the barcoding region, confirming that the COI gene is more useful for identifying sibling and cryptic species, as has been demonstrated [51].…”

“…Recently, the number of publications using mitochondrial sequences for inferring phylogenetic relationships within the Kerteszia has increased [47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. However, there are few studies focusing on populations of An.…”

Widespread plant specialization in the polyphagous planthopper Hyalesthes obsoletus (Cixiidae), a major vector of stolbur phytoplasma: Evidence of cryptic speciation

“…Average genetic distances among haplotypes were calculated within and between major phylogenetic clusters using PAUP* under the nucleotide substitution model as determined by jModelTest found for the phylogenetic tree reconstruction (see above). Additionally, genetic distances were calculated separately for haplotypes of the concatenated COI-COII genes, which was proven to be the most phylogenetically informative of the analyzed mtDNA markers for species-level identification and differentiation, e.g., [ 69 – 71 ].…”

Identification of a biological form in the Anopheles stephensi laboratory colony using the odorant-binding protein 1 intron I sequence

“…gambiae and An . albitarsis [ 40 ]. Yet our BLAST searches at GenBank database for either of ITS2, COI and COII sequences once again revealed them inappropriate for distinguishing our species strain.…”