Molecular Identification of <i>Anopheles gambiae</i> Complex Found in Calabar, Using the Polymerase Chain Reaction Technique

Abstract

Fifty-three Anopheles species identified morphologically were subjected to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for species differentiation within the Anopheles gambiae complex, using five primers in the PCR mix. Thirty-three of these were identified as members of An. gambiae complex. Out of this number 31 (93.9%) were identified as An. gambiae s.s while 2 (6.1%) were identified as An. arabiensis. The high numbers of unidentified species 20 (37.7%) show that the non-gambiae species in the environment is relatively high. This work has shown that An. gambiae is the predominant species of malaria vector in the Calabar area of the country. Key Words: Sibling species, An gambiae complex, polymerase chain reaction [Mary Slessor Jnl of Medicine Vol.3(1) 2003: 61-64]