Population genetic structure of urban malaria vector Anopheles stephensi in India

- Population genetic structure of A. stephensi was studied at macro geographic level using microsatellite markers.
- Significantly high genetic differentiation was found between studied populations of A. stephensi.
- Geographic distance was found to be playing an important role in genetic differentiation because there was positive correlation between Fst and geographical distance.
- No bottleneck was found in any of the population.
- Three genetic pools were found in studied populations, however, the populations from central India were found to be coexisting in two genetic pools.
- Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes were found to maintain their effective population size inspite of the use of insecticides.

Malaria is a major public health problem in India because climatic condition and geography of India provide an ideal environment for development of malaria vector. Anopheles stephensi is a major urban malaria vector in India and its control has been hampered by insecticide resistance. In present study population genetic structure of A. stephensi is analyzed at macro geographic level using 13 microsatellite markers. Significantly high genetic differentiation was found in all studied populations with differentiation values (FST) ranging from 0.0398 to 0.1808. The geographic distance was found to be playing a major role in genetic differentiation between different populations. Overall three genetic pools were observed and population of central India was found to be coexisting in two genetic pools. High effective population size (Ne) was found in all the studied populations.