title: DNA barcoding and molecular evolution of mosquito vectors of medical and veterinary importance.
abstract: Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are a key threat for millions of people worldwide, since they act as vectors for devastating pathogens and parasites. The standard method of utilisation of morphological characters becomes challenging due to various factors such as phenotypical variations. We explored the complementary approach of CO1 gene-based identification, analysing ten species of mosquito vectors belonging to three genera, Aedes, Culex and Anopheles from India. Analysed nucleotide sequences were found without pseudo genes and indels; they match with high similarity in nucleotide Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLASTn) search. The partial CO1 sequence of Anopheles niligricus was the first time record submitted to National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Mean intra- and interspecies divergence was found to be 1.30 and 3.83 %, respectively. The congeneric divergence was three times higher than the conspecifics. Deep intraspecific divergence was noted in three of the species, and the reason could be explained more accurately in the future by improving the sample size across different locations. The transitional and transversional substitutions were tested individually. Ts and Tv substitutions in all the 1st, 2nd and 3rd codons were estimated to be (0.44, 99.51), (40.35, 59.66) and (59.16, 40.84), respectively. Saturation of the sequences was resolved, since both the Ts and Tv exhibited a linear relationship suggesting that the sequences were not saturated. NJ and ML tree analysis showed that the individuals of the same species clustered together based on the CO1 sequence similarity, regardless of their collection site and geographic location. Overall, this study adds basic knowledge to molecular evolution of mosquito vectors of medical and veterinary importance and may be useful to improve biotechnological tools employed in Culicidae control programmes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Kadarkarai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murugan
authors.affiliation: Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Chithravel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vadivalagan
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, 641 043, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Pushparaj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Karthika
authors.affiliation: Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Chellasamy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Panneerselvam
authors.affiliation: Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Manickam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paulpandi
authors.affiliation: Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Jayapal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Subramaniam
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Protection, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, 350013, Fujian, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, 71491, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Al Thabiani
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohamad Saleh
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Alsalhi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Sandhanasamy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Devanesan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nicoletti
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Medical Entomology, Madurai, India.
authors.forename: Rajaiah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paramasivan
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University System/Agri Life Research and Extension Center, Lubbock, TX, 79403, USA.
authors.forename: Megha N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Parajulee
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy. g.benelli@sssup.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Benelli
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003465:Culex / Q000235:genetics; D009033:Culicidae / Q000235:genetics*; D051545:Cyclooxygenase 1 / Q000235:genetics; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005819:Genetic Markers; D051545:Cyclooxygenase 1
keywords: Aedes; Anopheles; Arbovirus; CO1; Culex; Dengue; Malaria; Molecular ecology; Mosquito-borne diseases; Phylogeny