Molecular relationships of introduced Aedes japonicus (Diptera: Culicidae) populations in British Columbia, Canada using mitochondrial DNA

ABSTRACTAedes japonicus japonicus (Theobald) is a relatively recent immigrant to the Pacific Northwest, having been collected in Washington State in 2001 and in British Columbia (BC) since 2014. We applied a molecular barcoding approach to determine the phylogenetic relationship ofAe. j. japonicus populations in BC with those from around the world. We sequenced a 617 base ‐pair segment of the cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene and a 330 base‐pair region of the NADH dehydrogenase 4 gene to find genetic variation and characterize phylogenetic and haplotypic relationships based on nucleotide divergences. Our results revealed low genetic diversity in the BC samples, suggest ing that these populations arose from the same introduction event. However, our approach lacked the granularity to identify the exact country of origin of theAe. j. japonicus collected in BC. Future efforts should focus on detecting and preventing newAe. j. japonicus introductions, recognizing that current molecular techniques are unable to pin ‐point the precise source of an introduction.
Source: Journal of Vector Ecology - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research