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. 2020 Feb 18;13(1):87.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-3962-1.

Genetic differentiation and population structure of Anopheles funestus from Uganda and the southern African countries of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Martha A Kaddumukasa  1 , Jane Wright  2 , Mbanga Muleba  3 , Jenny C Stevenson  3   4 , Douglas E Norris  4 , Maureen Coetzee  5   6
Affiliations

Genetic differentiation and population structure of Anopheles funestus from Uganda and the southern African countries of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Martha A Kaddumukasa et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: Anopheles funestus (s.s.) is a primary vector of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in Africa, a human pathogen that causes almost half a million deaths each year. The population structure of An. funestus was examined in samples from Uganda and the southern African countries of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Methods: Twelve microsatellites were used to estimate the genetic diversity and differentiation of An. funestus from 13 representative locations across five countries. These were comprised of four sites from Uganda, three from Malawi and two each from Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Results: All loci were highly polymorphic across the populations with high allelic richness and heterozygosity. A high genetic diversity was observed with 2-19 alleles per locus and an average number of seven alleles. Overall, expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.65 to 0.79. When samples were pooled three of the 12 microsatellite loci showed Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Unsupervised Bayesian clustering analysis of microsatellite data revealed two clusters with An. funestus samples from Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia falling into one group and Malawi and Zimbabwe into another. The overall genetic differentiation between the populations was moderate (FST = 0.116). Pairwise differentiation between the pairs was low but significant. A weak but significant correlation was established between genetic and geographical distance for most populations.

Conclusions: High genetic diversity revealed by the loci with low to moderate differentiation, identified two clusters among the An. funestus populations. Further research on the population dynamics of An. funestus in east and southern Africa is essential to understand the implications of this structuring and what effect it may have on the efficient implementation of mosquito vector control strategies.

Keywords: Anopheles funestus; East Africa; Malaria; Microsatellites; Population differentiation; Southern Africa.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mosquito collection sites from five African countries
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bayesian cluster analysis using STRUCTURE. Graphical representation of the data set for the most likely K (K = 2), where each colour corresponds to a suggested cluster and each individual is represented by a vertical bar. The X-axis corresponds to the population codes. The Y-axis presents the probability of assignment of an individual to each cluster. Above are clusters for all five countries and beneath are the clusters for each of the 13 sites
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) generated from 12 microsatellites among five An. funestus populations from Uganda and southern African countries. Abbreviations: MAL, Malawi; MOZ, Mozambique; UGA, Uganda; ZAM, Zambia; ZIM, Zimbabwe
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