Low genetic diversity in Wolbachia-Infected Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) from Brazil and Argentina

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Main Authors: Sirlei Antunes Morais, Fábio de Almeida, Lincoln Suesdek, Mauro Toledo Marrelli
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2012
• Subjects: Culex quinquefasciatus; Genetic diversity; Mitochondrial markers; Wolbachia; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Alar; Arctic; Argentina
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46652012000600007; https://doaj.org/article/e97ab7038e214e59bccc438d9d879592

Culex quinquefasciatus is a vector of human pathogens, including filarial nematodes and several viruses. Although its epidemiological relevance is known to vary across geographical regions, an understanding of its population genetic structure is still incipient. In light of this, we evaluated the genetic diversity of Cx. quinquefasciatus and Cx. pipiens x Cx. quinquefasciatus hybrids collected from nine localities in Brazil and one site in Argentina. We used mitochondrial genes cox1 and nd4, along with the coxA and wsp genes of the maternally-inherited Wolbachia endosymbiont. The nd4 fragment was invariant between samples, whilst cox1 exhibited four haplotypes that separated two types of Cx. quinquefasciatus, one clustered in southern Brazil. Low sequence diversity was generally observed, being discussed. Both Brazilian and Argentinian mosquitoes were infected with a single Wolbachia strain. As reported in previous studies with these populations, cox1 and nd4 diversity is not congruent with the population structure revealed by nuclear markers or alar morphology. Future Cx. quinquefasciatus research should, if possible, evaluate mtDNA diversity in light of other markers.