Parasites and Vectors (2008) 1 (44) - Clarification of anomalies in ...

Kija R. Ng'habi, Claudio R. Meneses, Anthony J. Cornel, Michel A. Slotman, Bart G.J. Knols, Heather M. Ferguson and Gregory C. Lanzaro (2008)
Clarification of anomalies in the application of a 2La molecular karyotyping method for the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae
Parasites and Vectors 1 (44)
Abstract: Background
Chromosomal inversions have been considered to be potentially important barriers to gene flow in many groups of animals through their effect on recombination suppression in heterokaryotypic individuals. Inversions can also enhance local adaptation in different groups of organisms and may often represent species-specific differences among closely related taxa. We conducted a study to characterize the 2La inversion karyotypes of An. gambiae sensu stricto mosquitoes sampled from the Kilombero Valley (Tanzania) using a newly designed PCR assay.
Results
We frequently encountered a (687 bp) fragment which was only present in the Kilombero Valley populations. Laboratory crossing between An. gambiae s.s. from Njage (Tanzania) and Kisumu (Western Kenya) populations resulted in F₁ offspring carrying the observed fragment. Karyotype analysis did not indicate differences in 2La region chromosome morphology between individuals carrying the PCR fragments, the 207 bp fragment, or the 687 bp fragement.
Conclusion
The observed insertion/deletion polymorphism within the region amplified by the 2La PCR diagnostic test may confound the interpretation of this assay and should be well considered in order to maintain an acceptable level of reliability in studies using this assay to describe the distribution and frequency of the 2La inversion among natural populations of An. gambiae s.s.
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Database assignments for author(s): Kija R. Ng'habi, Gregory C. Lanzaro, Michel A. Slotman, Bart G.J. Knols

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Anopheles gambiae		Kenya
	Anopheles gambiae		Tanzania