Abstract
Mosquitoes occur almost worldwide, and females of some species feed on blood from humans and other animals to support ovum maturation. In warm and hot seasons, such as the summer in Japan, fed mosquitoes are often observed at crime scenes. The current study attempted to estimate the time that elapsed since feeding from the degree of human DNA digestion in mosquito blood meals and also to identify the individual human sources of the DNA using genotyping in two species of mosquito: Culex pipiens pallens and Aedes albopictus. After stereomicroscopic observation, the extracted DNA samples were quantified using a human DNA quantification and quality control kit and were genotyped for 15 short tandem repeats using a commercial multiplexing kit. It took about 3 days for the complete digestion of a blood meal, and genotyping was possible until 2 days post-feeding. The relative peak heights of the 15 STRs and DNA concentrations were useful for estimating the post-feeding time to approximately half a day between 0 and 2 days. Furthermore, the quantitative ratios derived from STR peak heights and the quality control kit (Q129/Q41, Q305/Q41, and Q305/Q129) were reasonably effective for estimating the approximate post-feeding time after 2–3 days. We suggest that this study may be very useful for estimating the time since a mosquito fed from blood meal DNA, although further refinements are necessary to estimate the times more accurately.
Highlights
The mosquito, one of the most common and widespread insects, belongs to the order Diptera, the suborder Nematocera, and the family Culicidae
The current study examined the extent to which DNA in a blood meal can be identified over PF time using multiplex short tandem repeats (STRs) genotyping, according to the manufacturer’s protocol
It was confirmed macroscopically that all the mosquitoes had taken in a significant blood meal, several of the fed mosquitoes appeared similar to unfed controls upon stereomicroscopic examination immediately after sacrifice
Summary
The mosquito, one of the most common and widespread insects, belongs to the order Diptera, the suborder Nematocera, and the family Culicidae. Up to about 3,600 species in 37 genera are found worldwide [1], mainly in temperate and tropical regions. Some are vectors for diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and chikungunya, and cause many deaths each year. Both male and female mosquitoes imbibe sugars in the form of flower nectar, and tree sap. Only the females consume blood to support the maturation of ova.
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