Genetic diversity of the African malaria vector anopheles gambiae

Alistair Miles, Nicholas J. Harding, Giordano Bottà, Chris S. Clarkson, Tiago Antão, Krzysztof Kozak, Daniel R. Schrider, Andrew D. Kern, Seth Redmond, Igor Sharakhov, Richard D. Pearson, Christina Bergey, Michael C. Fontaine, Martin J. Donnelly, Mara K.N. Lawniczak, Diego Ayala, Nora J. Besansky, Austin Burt, Beniamino Caputo, Alessandra Della TorreH. Charles J. Godfray, Matthew W. Hahn, Janet Midega, Daniel E. Neafsey, Samantha O'Loughlin, João Pinto, Michelle M. Riehle, Kenneth D. Vernick, David Weetman, Craig S. Wilding, Bradley J. White, Arlete D. Troco, Abdoulaye Diabaté, Carlo Costantini, Kyanne R. Rohatgi, Nohal Elissa, Boubacar Coulibaly, João Dinis, Charles Mbogo, Philip Bejon, Henry D. Mawejje, Jim Stalker, Kirk Rockett, Eleanor Drury, Daniel Mead, Anna Jeffreys, Christina Hubbart, Kate Rowlands, Alison T. Isaacs, Dushyanth Jyothi, Cinzia Malangone, Paul Vauterin, Ben Jeffery, Ian Wright, Lee Hart, Krzysztof Kluczyński, Victoria Cornelius, Bronwyn Macinnis, Christa Henrichs, Rachel Giacomantonio, Dominic P. Kwiatkowski

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

237 Scopus citations

Abstract

The sustainability of malaria control in Africa is threatened by the rise of insecticide resistance in Anopheles mosquitoes, which transmit the disease1. To gain a deeper understanding of how mosquito populations are evolving, here we sequenced the genomes of 765 specimens of Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii sampled from 15 locations across Africa, and identified over 50 million single nucleotide polymorphisms within the accessible genome. These data revealed complex population structure and patterns of gene flow, with evidence of ancient expansions, recent bottlenecks, and local variation in effective population size. Strong signals of recent selection were observed in insecticide-resistance genes, with several sweeps spreading over large geographical distances and between species. The design of new tools for mosquito control using gene-drive systems will need to take account of high levels of genetic diversity in natural mosquito populations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)96-100
Number of pages5
JournalNature
Volume552
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 7 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the staff of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Sample Logistics, Sequencing and Informatics facilities for their contributions. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (090770/Z/09/Z; 090532/Z/09/Z; 098051) and Medical Research Council UK and the Department for International Development (DFID) (MR/M006212/1). M.K.N.L. was supported by MRC grant G1100339. S.O.’L. and A.B. were supported by a grant from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through the Vector-Based Control of Transmission: Discovery Research (VCTR) program of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. D.W., C.S.W., H.D.M. and M.J.D. were supported by Award Numbers U19AI089674 and R01AI082734 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIAID or NIH. T.A. was supported by a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, Part of Springer Nature. All Rights Reserved.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Genetic diversity of the African malaria vector anopheles gambiae'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this