title: Short report: The effect of preservation methods on predicting mosquito age by near infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: Determining mosquito age is important to evaluate vector control programs because the ability to transmit diseases is age dependent. Current age-grading techniques require dissection or RNA extraction. Near infrared spectroscopy has been used to rapidly and nondestructively determine the age of fresh mosquitoes and specimens stored in RNAlater, but other preservation techniques have not been examined. Thus, in this study, we investigate whether age can be predicted from insects preserved by various common methods. Results from this study show that age can be predicted from mosquitoes preserved with desiccants, ethanol, Carnoy, RNAlater, or refrigeration with confidence intervals < 1.4 days. The best results were generally obtained from mosquitoes stored using desiccants, RNAlater, or refrigeration.
authors.affiliation: Engineering and Wind Erosion Research Unit, Center for Grain and Animal Health Research, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Manhattan, Kansas 66502, USA. floyd.dowell@ars.usda.gov
authors.forename: Floyd E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Dowell
authors.forename: Aline E M
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Noutcha
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Michel
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000254:growth & development; D005260:Female; D011309:Preservation, Biological / Q000379:methods*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*