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Electrophoretic studies on Culex quinquefasciatus Say from Africa: genetic variability and divergence from Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

S. Urbanelli
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Rome—La Sapienza, Via Lancisi, 29, 00161 Rome, Italy
L. Bullini
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Rome—La Sapienza, Via Lancisi, 29, 00161 Rome, Italy
F. Villani
Affiliation:
Institute of Parasitology, University of Rome—La Sapienza, Città Universitaria, 00185 Rome, Italy

Abstract

Multilocus electrophoresis was used to study the genetic variation of field samples of Culex quinquefasciatus Say from Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Mozambique, and a laboratory strain from Senegal. Phallosome morphology (the DV/D ratio) was used for the taxonomic identification of the males. The proportion of individuals with a highly active esterase pattern, indicating resistance to organophosphorus insecticides, ranged from 0 to 0·75 in the field samples and was 1·00 in the Senegal strain. The following 17 loci were genetically analysed: α-Gpdh, Mdh-1, Mdh-2, Me-1, Me-2, Idh-1, Idh-2, 6Pgdh, G3pdh, Got-1, Got-2, Hk-1, Adk, Pgm, Aid, Tpi and Gpi. Comparisons made with published data for C. pipiens L. from the Old World and C. quinquefasciatus from the USA revealed similar levels of genetic variability in C. quinquefasciatus from Africa (H e = 0·06, P = 0·44, A = 1·47) and the USA, but considerably higher variability in C. pipiens (H e = 0·14, P = 0·52, A = 1·64). C. quinquefasciatus populations appeared genetically much more homogeneous than those of C. pipiens (average Nei's D = 0·004 within the former taxon, about ten times more within the latter) and the genetic divergence between African and USA samples of C. quinquefasciatus was very low (D = 0·003). Comparison between C. quinquefasciatus from Africa and C. pipiens showed that the former is genetically more related to C. pipiens s.s. from Italy (D = 0·145) than to C. pipiens form molestus Forskål from Italy (0·186) or Egypt (0·165). The average genetic distance found between C. quinquefasciatus and C. pipiens was 0·17, a value observed for some pairs of mosquito sibling species. Allele frequencies at some loci (Me-2 and Got-2) appeared to be remarkably differentiated between C. quinquefasciatus and C. pipiens, with fixed alternative allozymes at the Me-2 locus: 106 in C. quinquefasciatus, 100 and 108 in C. pipiens. These findings provide a basis for the investigation of gene flow between contiguous or overlapping populations of these two taxa in order to ascertain their relative taxonomic status.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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