Abstract
BackgroundIn recent decades, throughout the Amazon Basin, landscape modification contributing to profound ecological change has proceeded at an unprecedented rate. Deforestation that accompanies human activities can significantly change aspects of anopheline biology, though this may be site-specific. Such local changes in anopheline biology could have a great impact on malaria transmission. The aim of this study was to investigate population genetics of the main malaria vector in Brazil, Anopheles darlingi, from a microgeographical perspective.MethodsMicrosatellites and ddRADseq-derived single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used to assess levels of population genetic structuring among mosquito populations from two ecologically distinctive agricultural settlements (~60 km apart) and a population from a distant (~700 km) urban setting in the western Amazon region of Brazil.ResultsSignificant microgeographical population differentiation was observed among Anopheles darlingi populations via both model- and non-model-based analysis only with the SNP dataset. Microsatellites detected moderate differentiation at the greatest distances, but were unable to differentiate populations from the two agricultural settlements. Both markers showed low polymorphism levels in the most human impacted sites.ConclusionsAt a microgeographical scale, signatures of genetic heterogeneity and population divergence were evident in Anopheles darlingi, possibly related to local environmental anthropic modification. This divergence was observed only when using high coverage SNP markers.
Highlights
In recent decades, throughout the Amazon Basin, landscape modification contributing to profound ecological change has proceeded at an unprecedented rate
The more recently occupied settlements, covered by a greater proportion of forest, have the greatest abundance of An. darlingi and the highest proportion of malaria cases compared with older settlements where there is increased deforestation and urbanization, and fewer malaria cases, a phenomenon described as frontier malaria [21, 22]
The results showed a higher level of diversity with Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) G"ST = 0.138, 0.121–0.155 (2.5–97.5% CI) than with microsatellites G"ST = 0.119, 0.065–0.219 (2.5– 97.5% CI), but the values were not so different as in FST estimates
Summary
Throughout the Amazon Basin, landscape modification contributing to profound ecological change has proceeded at an unprecedented rate. Deforestation that accompanies human activities can significantly change aspects of anopheline biology, though this may be site-specific. Such local changes in anopheline biology could have a great impact on malaria transmission. Four main factors of An. darlingi’s life history have contributed to its Deforestation and microclimate change that accompany human activity can significantly increase the human biting rate and other vector biology parameters in anopheline vectors across the globe [6, 7, 10, 11], though this may be site-specific [12,13,14,15,16]. Different proportions of anthropogenic (built) environment between urban and rural settings may lead to ecological segregation in breeding sites, resulting in divergence/speciation, as observed in An. gambiae (s.l.) in Cameroon [23]
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