title: Chikungunya virus susceptibility & variation in populations of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquito from India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although having immense clinical relevance, yet only a few studies have been targeted to understand the chikungunya virus (CHIKV) susceptibility and growth in Aedes aegypti populations from India. This study was undertaken to investigate CHIKV susceptibility and growth kinetics in Ae. aegypti along with genetic heterogeneity of Ae. aegypti populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dose dependent CHIKV susceptibility and growth kinetic studies for three CHIKV strains reported from India were carried out in Ae. aegypti mosquito populations. The phenotypic variation and genetic heterogeneity in five Ae. aegypti populations were investigated using multivariate morphometrics and allozyme variation studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The dissemination and growth kinetics studies of the three CHIKV strains showed no selective advantage for a particular strain of CHIKV in Ae. aegypti. At 100 per cent infection rate, five geographic Ae. aegypti populations showed differences in dissemination to three CHIKV strains. Morphometric studies revealed phenotypic variation in all the studied populations. The allelic frequencies, F statistics, and Nei's genetic identity values showed that genetic differences between the populations were small, but significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results obtained in this study suggest that genetic background of the vector strongly influences the CHIKV susceptibility in Ae. aegypti.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Virology, Microbial Containment Complex (ICMR), Pune, India.
authors.forename: Mangesh D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Gokhale
authors.forename: Mandar S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Paingankar
authors.forename: Anakathil B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Sudeep
authors.forename: Deepti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parashar
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D065632:Chikungunya Fever / Q000235:genetics* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D002646:Chikungunya virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology