Mitochondrial metabolic genes provide phylogeographic relationships of global collections of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Phylogeographic relationships among global collections of the mosquito Aedes aegypti were evaluated using the mitochondrial Cytochrome C Oxidase 1 (CO1) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) genes including new sequences from Sri Lanka. Phylogeographic analysis estimated that Ae. aegypti arose as a species~614 thousand years ago (kya) in the late Pleistocene. At 545 kya an "early" East African clade arose that continued to differentiate in East Africa, and eventually gave rise to three lineages one of which is distributed throughout all tropical and subtropical regions, a second that contains Southeast Asian/Sri Lankan mosquitoes and a third that contains mostly New World mosquitoes. West African collections were not represented in this early clade. The late clade continued to differentiate throughout Africa and gave rise to a lineage that spread globally. The most recent branches of the late clade are represented by SouthEast Asia and India/Pakistan collections. Analysis of migration rates suggests abundant gene flow between India/Pakistan and the rest of the world with the exception of Africa.

The Absence of Yellow Fever in Asia: History, Hypotheses, Vector Dispersal, Possibility of YF in Asia, and Other Enigmas

“…In this inference, an alternative scenario for direct dispersal from East Africa to Asia (Figure 2, blue arrow) was not supported statistically, despite geographic proximity. However, this East African route to Asia either directly across the Indian Ocean or via the Arabian Peninsula was once proposed [115]; and in a more recent report, this route of dispersal is inferred to have occurred by the ancestral species more than once in geologic period [120]. Although the conclusion of the latter report is interesting, it cannot be directly applied to the discussion of the dispersal of this mosquito spanning only the past several centuries because the mosquitoes in the geologic times were probably not identical to the extant Ae.…”

Population genetic and phylogeographic relationships of the dengue vector <em>Aedes aegypti</em> inferred from three localities of Sri Lanka

“…single focal expansion). When Badulla is considered, this invasion should be quite recent, as the genetic diversity of the Badulla population (=0.002) is approximately six fold lower than the genetic diversity reported for Senegal (=0.0119) (Fernando et al, 2020). According to Tabachnick and Powell (1979), after a founder event, a minimum of 10 5 generations is needed prior to restoring the heterozygosity to the level of original population.…”

“…When all the samples of the current study were analyzed together with the 40 selected Sri Lankan samples that were analyzed by Fernando et al (2020), two distinct clades were revealed (bootstrap support = 100%): one clade consisting of samples from Trincomalee (N=11; 5 from current study). Sri Lankan Journal of Biology 7(2)…”

“…Nevertheless, in Sri Lanka, so far only one study has used the ND4 gene to investigate the phylogenetic relatedness of Ae. aegypti found in Sri Lanka (Fernando et al, 2020) 1988). The Namunukula range of mountains that consist of nine mountain peaks with the highest point of 2,016 m (6,614 ft), overshadows the area.…”

Establishment, Genetic Diversity, and Habitat Suitability of Aedes albopictus Populations from Ecuador

“…Mitochondrial genes, such as COI, are widely used to understand vector insect populations and their molecular, genetic evolution, dispersal patterns, phylogeny, and population dynamics [ 11 , 12 ]. These conserved genes present high levels of polymorphism and divergence among species, making them good molecular markers [ 13 , 14 ] that can help describe pest populations to carry out adequate entomological monitoring [ 15 ] and implement better control practices.…”