Abstract
Considerable technological advances have been made towards the generation of genetically modified mosquitoes for vector control. In contrast, less progress has been made towards field evaluations of transformed mosquitoes which are critical for evaluating the success of, and hazards associated with, genetic modification. Oceanic islands have been highlighted as potentially the best locations for such trials. However, population genetic studies are necessary to verify isolation. Here, we used a panel of genetic markers to assess for evidence of genetic isolation of two oceanic island populations of the African malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae s.s. We found no evidence of isolation between the Bijagós archipelago and mainland Guinea-Bissau, despite separation by distances beyond the known dispersal capabilities of this taxon. Conversely, the Comoros Islands appear to be genetically isolated from the East African mainland, and thus represent a location worthy of further investigation for field trials. Based on assessments of gene flow within and between the Comoros islands, the island of Grande Comore was found to be genetically isolated from adjacent islands and also exhibited local population structure, indicating that it may be the most suitable site for trials with existing genetic modification technologies.
Highlights
With 2009 marking the first field trials of genetically modified Aedes aegypti L. mosquitoes (Enserink 2010), and subsequent releases in 2010 and 2011 (Harris et al 2011; Mumford 2012), it may appear that the era of transgenics for vector control has begun
Where populations were found to be isolated based on SNP data, we further evaluated isolation and investigated the origin of island populations, by sequencing the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit (ND5) gene, which have been evaluated in An. gambiae populations across Africa
We suggest the lack of isolation between the Bijagos archipelago and mainland Guinea-Bissau makes them an unsuitable site for a genetically modified mosquitoes (GMM) release
Summary
With 2009 marking the first field trials of genetically modified Aedes aegypti L. mosquitoes (Enserink 2010), and subsequent releases in 2010 and 2011 (Harris et al 2011; Mumford 2012), it may appear that the era of transgenics for vector control has begun. The use of genetically modified mosquitoes (GMM) has been the subject of much debate and remains highly controversial (Enserink 2010; Ostera Gr 2011; Lehane and Aksoy 2012; Mumford 2012). This has created a need for thorough transparent scientific evaluation of the success of, and risks associated with, GMM releases prior to widespread deployment (Alphey et al 2002). Movement of mosquitoes between contiguous populations should erode any potential genetic divergence, resulting in homogenized gene pools (Hartl and Clark 2006)
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