Molecular evidence of misidentification of Anopheles minimus as Anopheles fluviatilis in Assam (India)

• Published in: Acta tropica Vol. 113; no. 3; pp. 241 - 244
• Main Authors: Singh, O.P., Nanda, N., Dev, Vas, Bali, Prerna, Sohail, Mohammad, Mehrunnisa, A., Adak, T., Dash, A.P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 01-03-2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: 28S ribosomal DNA; Animals; Anopheles - anatomy & histology; Anopheles - classification; Anopheles - genetics; Anopheles fluviatilis; Anopheles minimus; Anophelesfluviatilis; Anophelesminimus; Biological and medical sciences; DNA, Ribosomal - chemistry; DNA, Ribosomal - genetics; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer - chemistry; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer - genetics; Female; General aspects; Genes, rRNA; Human protozoal diseases; Humans; India; Infectious diseases; Internal transcribed spacer 2; Malaria; Medical sciences; Molecular Sequence Data; Parasitic diseases; Phylogeny; Protozoal diseases; RNA, Ribosomal, 28S - genetics; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Vector; Assam; Asia; India; India, Assam; Internal transcribed spacer 2; Malaria; Anopheles minimus; 28S ribosomal DNA; Anopheles fluviatilis; Vector; India; Infection; Protozoal disease; Ribosomal DNA; Tropical medicine; Parasitosis
• ISSN: 0001-706X; 1873-6254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2009.11.002

Anopheles
minimus s.
l. and
Anopheles
fluviatilis s.l., two closely related taxa, are reported vectors of malaria in Assam state of India. We determined the DNA sequences of morphologically identified
A. minimus s.
l. and
A. fluviatilis s.
l. collected from the Kamrup district in Assam, for two rDNA loci—internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and D3 domain of 28S rDNA (28S-D3). Analysis of rDNA data revealed that the sequences of both the morphologically identified
A. minimus s.
l. and
A. fluviatilis s.
l. from Assam are identical, homologous to the sequences of
A. minimus s.s. (former species A) and different from that of all the reported members of the Fluviatilis Complex (species S, T and U). This indicates that
A. fluviatilis s.
l. being reported in Kamrup district, Assam, in low density, mostly during January to April, is actually a hypermelanic and seasonal variant of
A. minimus. It was also found that the banding pattern on chromosome arm 2 (which bears species-diagnostic inversions for the Fluviatilis Complex) of
A. minimus and of
A. fluviatilis s.
l. from Assam is homosequential with
A. fluviatilis species U suggesting that probably previously described
A. fluviatilis U from Assam were also
A. minimus.