The population structure of Glossina palpalis gambiensis from island and continental locations in Coastal Guinea.
BACKGROUND
We undertook a population genetics analysis of the tsetse fly Glossina palpalis gambiensis, a major vector of sleeping sickness in West Africa, using microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA markers. Our aims were to estimate effective population size and the degree of isolation between coastal sites on the mainland of Guinea and Loos Islands. The sampling locations encompassed Dubréka, the area with the highest Human African Trypanosomosis (HAT) prevalence in West Africa, mangrove and savannah sites on the mainland, and two islands, Fotoba and Kassa, within the Loos archipelago. These data are discussed with respect to the feasibility and sustainability of control strategies in those sites currently experiencing, or at risk of, sleeping sickness.


RESULTS
We found very low migration rates between sites except between those sampled around the Dubréka area that seems to contain a widely dispersed and panmictic population. In the Kassa island samples, various effective population size estimates all converged on surprisingly small values (10<N(e)<30) that suggest either a recent bottleneck, and/or other biological or ecological factors such as strong variance in the reproductive success of individuals.


CONCLUSIONS
Whatever their origin, the small effective population sizes suggest high levels of inbreeding in tsetse flies within the island samples in marked contrast to the large diffuse deme in Dubréka zones. We discuss how these genetic results suggest that different tsetse control strategies should be applied on the mainland and islands.
Solano
Philippe
P
CIRDES/IRD UMR 177 IRD-CIRAD, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. solano@ird.bf
Ravel
Sophie
S
Bouyer
Jeremy
J
Camara
Mamadou
M
Kagbadouno
Moise S
MS
Dyer
Naomi
N
Gardes
Laetitia
L
Herault
Damien
D
Donnelly
Martin J
MJ
De Meeûs
Thierry
T
D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D016701:Guinea / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007300:Insect Control; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D011156:Population Density; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D014370:Tsetse Flies / Q000235:genetics*
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial