Molecular evidence for the presence of malaria vector species a of the Anopheles annularis complex in Sri Lanka - PubMed (original) (raw)

Molecular evidence for the presence of malaria vector species a of the Anopheles annularis complex in Sri Lanka

Sinnathamby N Surendran et al. Parasit Vectors. 2011.

Abstract

Background: Anopheles annularis s.l. is a wide spread malaria vector in South and Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka. The taxon An. annularis is a complex of two sibling species viz. A and B, that are differentiated by chromosome banding patterns and ribosomal gene sequences in India. Only species A is reported to be a malaria vector in India while the occurrence of sibling species in Sri Lanka has not been documented previously.

Findings: Anopheline larvae were collected at a site in the Jaffna district, which lies within the dry zone of Sri Lanka, and reared in the laboratory. Emerged adults were identified using standard keys. DNA sequences of the D3 domain of 28S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and the internal transcribed spacer-2 (ITS-2) of the morphologically identified An. annularis were determined. BLASTn searches against corresponding An. annularis sequences in GenBank and construction of phylogenetic trees from D3 and ITS-2 rDNA sequences showed that the Sri Lankan specimens, and An. annularis s.l. specimens from several Southeast Asian countries were closely related to species A of the Indian An. annularis complex.

Conclusions: The results show the presence of the malaria vector An. annularis species A in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Because An. annularis vectors have been long associated with malaria transmission in irrigated agricultural areas in the Sri Lankan dry zone, continued monitoring of An. annularis populations, and their sibling species status, in these areas need to be integral to malaria control and eradication efforts in the island.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Mosquito collection site in the district of Jaffna in the Northern province of Sri Lanka. Larvae were collected from Chinnakkulam pond used to irrigate adjacent agricultural lands.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Phylogenetic analysis based on D3 region of rDNA. Sri Lanka - 1, 2 and 3 refers to individual specimens collected in this study. Other anopheline sequences from different countries were obtained from GenBank.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS-2 region of rDNA. Sri Lanka - 1, 2 and 3 refers to individual specimens collected in this study. Other anopheline sequences from different countries were obtained from GenBank.

References

    1. Walton C, Somboon P, Harbach RE, Zhang S, Weerasinghe I, O'Loughlin SM, Phompida S, Sochantha T, Tun-Lin W, Chen B, Butlin RK. Molecular identification of mosquito species in the Anopheles annularis group in southern Asia. Med Vet Entomol. 2007;21:30–35. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2915.2006.00660.x. -DOI -PubMed
    1. Atrie B, Subbarao SK, Pilai MKK, Rao SRV, Sharma VP. Population cytogenetic evidence for sibling species in Anopheles annularis (Diptera: Culicidae) Ann Entomol Soc Am. 1999;92:243–249.
    1. Alam MT, Das MK, Dev V, Ansari MA, Sharma YD. Identification of two cryptic species in the Anopheles (Cellia) annularis complex using ribosomal DNA PCR-RFLP. Parasitol Res. 2007;100:943–948. doi: 10.1007/s00436-006-0375-9. -DOI -PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Anopheline species complexes in South and South-east Asia. SEARO Technical Publication No. 57; 2007. pp. 17–19.
    1. Sinka ME, Bangs MJ, Manguin S, Chareonviriyaphap T, Patil AP, Temperley WH, Gething PW, Elyazar IRF, Kabaria CW, Harbach RE, Hay SI. The dominant Anopheles vectors of human malaria in the Asia-Pacific region: occurrence data, distribution maps and bionomic précis. Parasit Vectors. 2011;4:89. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-4-89. -DOI -PMC -PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources