title: Limited diversity of Anopheles darlingi in the Peruvian Amazon region of Iquitos.
abstract: Anopheles darlingi is the most important malaria vector in the Amazon basin of South America, and is capable of transmitting both Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax. To understand the genetic structure of this vector in the Amazonian region of Peru, a simple polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based test to identify this species of mosquito was used. A random amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR was used to study genetic variation at the micro-geographic level in nine geographically separate populations of An. darlingi collected in areas with different degrees of deforestation surrounding the city of Iquitos. Within-population genetic diversity in nine populations, as quantified by the expected heterozygosity (H(E)), ranged from 0.27 to 0.32. Average genetic distance (F(ST)) among these populations was 0.017. These results show that the nine studied populations are highly homogeneous, suggesting that strategies can be developed to combat this malaria vector as a single epidemiologic unit.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Peruvian University Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pinedo-Cancino
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sheen
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tarazona-Santos
authors.forename: William E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Oswald
authors.forename: Cesar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jeri
authors.forename: Amy Yomiko
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Vittor
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Patz
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Gilman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D006579:Heterozygote; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010568:Peru; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014197:Trees
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers