title: Molecular evidence of misidentification of Anopheles minimus as Anopheles fluviatilis in Assam (India).
abstract: Anophelesminimus s.l. and Anophelesfluviatilis s.l., two closely related taxa, are reported vectors of malaria in Assam state of India. We determined the DNA sequences of morphologically identified A. minimus s.l. and A. fluviatilis s.l. collected from the Kamrup district in Assam, for two rDNA loci-internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and D3 domain of 28S rDNA (28S-D3). Analysis of rDNA data revealed that the sequences of both the morphologically identified A. minimus s.l. and A. fluviatilis s.l. from Assam are identical, homologous to the sequences of A. minimus s.s. (former species A) and different from that of all the reported members of the Fluviatilis Complex (species S, T and U). This indicates that A. fluviatilis s.l. being reported in Kamrup district, Assam, in low density, mostly during January to April, is actually a hypermelanic and seasonal variant of A. minimus. It was also found that the banding pattern on chromosome arm 2 (which bears species-diagnostic inversions for the Fluviatilis Complex) of A. minimus and of A. fluviatilis s.l. from Assam is homosequential with A. fluviatilis species U suggesting that probably previously described A. fluviatilis U from Assam were also A. minimus.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Malaria Research (ICMR), Sector 8, Dwarka, Delhi 110077, India. Singh@mrcindia.org
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nanda
authors.forename: Vas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dev
authors.forename: Prerna
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bali
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sohail
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehrunnisa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Adak
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Dash
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S