Abstract
Mosquitoes play a predominant role as leading agents in the spread of vector-borne diseases and the consequent mortality in humans. Despite reports on increase of new and recurrent mosquito borne-disease outbreaks such as chikungunya, dengue fever and Rift Valley fever in Kenya, little is known about the genetic characteristics and diversity of the vector species that have been incriminated in transmission of disease pathogens. In this study, mosquito species were collected from Kisumu city, Kilifi town and Nairobi city and we determined their genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships. PCR was used to amplify the partial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene of mosquito samples. Molecular-genetic and phylogenetic analysis of the partial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene were employed to identify their relationship with known mosquito species. Fourteen (14) haplotypes belonging to genusAedes, nine (9) haplotypes belonging to genusAnophelesand twelve (12) haplotypes belonging to genusCulexwere identified in this study. Findings from this study revealed a potentially new haplotype belonging toAnophelesgenus and reported the first molecular characterization ofAedes cumminsiiin Kenya. Sequence results revealed variation in mosquito species from Kilifi, Kisumu and Nairobi. Since vector competence varies greatly across species as well as species-complexes and is strongly associated with specific behavioural adaptations, proper species identification is important for vector control programs.
Highlights
Mosquitoes play a predominant role as leading agents in the spread of vector-borne diseases and the consequent mortality in humans
14 haplotypes belonging to genera Aedes, 9 haplotypes belonging to genera Anopheles and 12 haplotypes belonging to genera Culex were identified through cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) sequence analysis
Haplotypes of Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles funestus, Aedes cumminsii, Aedes aegypti, Culex pipiens and Culex sitiens were found to be distributed across Kilifi, Kisumu and Nairobi mosquito populations (Table 1)
Summary
Mosquitoes play a predominant role as leading agents in the spread of vector-borne diseases and the consequent mortality in humans. Despite reports on increase of new and recurrent mosquito bornedisease outbreaks such as chikungunya, dengue fever and Rift Valley fever in Kenya, little is known about the genetic characteristics and diversity of the vector species that have been incriminated in transmission of disease pathogens. Mosquito species were collected from Kisumu city, Kilifi town and Nairobi city and we determined their genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships. Molecular-genetic and phylogenetic analysis of the partial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene were employed to identify their relationship with known mosquito species. Findings from this study revealed a potentially new haplotype belonging to Anopheles genus and reported the first molecular characterization of Aedes cumminsii in Kenya. Author roles: Makanda M: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Validation, Writing – Original Draft Preparation; Kemunto G: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing; Wamuyu L: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Methodology, Validation, Writing – Original Draft Preparation; Bargul J: Conceptualization, Project Administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing; Muema J: Methodology, Project Administration, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing; Mutunga J: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing
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