Populational characterization of Culicidae of medical importance: molecular, karyotypic and morphometric aspects

• Grant number: 06/02622-5
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: September 01, 2006 - August 31, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Entomology and Malacology of Parasites and Vectors
• Principal researcher: Lincoln Suesdek Rocha
• Grantee: Lincoln Suesdek Rocha
• Home Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Mosquitoes of family Culicidae (Diptera) are among the most important insects, regarding public health issues, since dozens of species are capable of transmitting etiological agents of infections such as malaria, dengue, filariasis and yellow fever. These diseases together are responsible for millions of human deaths in the world. Owing to such medical relevance, Culicids have been the target of several attempts of eradication and populational control. Control methods frequently have as a limiting factor the microevolution of mosquitoes, process through these insects develop resistance to insecticides and tolerance to polluted urban environments. Thus, researching on microevolution of Culicids becomes a central question in medical entomology. Microevolutionary surveys usually begin with the characterization of populations, which are described regarding biological parameters and subsequently compared through geographic or temporal transects. The culicids Culex quinquefasciatus and Ochlerotatus scapularis, vectors of filariases and arboviruses, are promising models for microevolutionary studies due to its medical importance and some other biological peculiarities: in State of São Paulo (Brazil), Cx. quinquefasciatus is adapted to live in environments with or without insecticides and pollution. The species Och. scapularis may occur in places of distinct degrees of urbanization and pollution, and is suspect of actually comprising a complex of cryptic species. The objective of the present project is to perform, for each one of these species, comparisons among populations from those distinct environmental conditions, aiming to identify possible evolutionary significant biological variations. Such evaluations will be as well compared between samplings from the winter and the summer. One intends to test as well the hypothesis of Och. scapularis being actually a complex of cryptic species. The biological parameters for comparison will be: chromosomal characters, ribosomal DNA aspects, wings geometric morphometrics and eggs micrography. We expect to obtain information on populational aspects of these species, which in a future should help to improve control methods for these disease vectors. (AU)

Scientific publications

(11)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VIRGINIO, FLAVIA; DOMINGUES, VICTOR; GOMES DA SILVA, LETICIA CECILIA; ANDRADE, LUCAS; BRAGHETTO, KELLY ROSA; SUESDEK, LINCOLN. WingBank: A Wing Image Database of Mosquitoes. FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, v. 9, APR 16 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

SUESDEK, LINCOLN. Microevolution of medically important mosquitoes - A review. Acta Tropica, v. 191, p. 162-171, MAR 2019. Web of Science Citations: 1.

LORENZ, CAMILA; ALMEIDA, FABIO; ALMEIDA-LOPES, FERNANDA; LOUISE, CAROLINE; PEREIRA, STELLA N.; PETERSEN, VIVIAN; VIDAL, PALOMA O.; VIRGINIO, FLAVIA; SUESDEK, LINCOLN. Geometric morphometrics in mosquitoes: What has been measured?. INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION, v. 54, p. 205-215, OCT 2017. Web of Science Citations: 16.

VIRGINIO, FLAVIA; VIDAL, PALOMA OLIVEIRA; SUESDEK, LINCOLN. Wing sexual dimorphism of pathogen-vector culicids. PARASITES & VECTORS, v. 8, MAR 14 2015. Web of Science Citations: 13.

PETERSEN, VIVIAN; DEVICARI, MARIANA; SUESDEK, LINCOLN. High morphological and genetic variabilities of Ochlerotatus scapularis, a potential vector of filarias and arboviruses. PARASITES & VECTORS, v. 8, FEB 26 2015. Web of Science Citations: 8.

MORAIS, SIRLEI ANTUNES; DE ALMEIDA, FABIO; SUESDEK, LINCOLN; MARRELLI, MAURO TOLEDO. LOW GENETIC DIVERSITY IN Wolbachia-INFECTED Culex quinquefasciatus (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE) FROM BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA. Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, v. 54, n. 6, p. 325-329, NOV-DEC 2012. Web of Science Citations: 14.

VIDAL, PALOMA OLIVEIRA; SUESDEK, LINCOLN. Comparison of wing geometry data and genetic data for assessing the population structure of Aedes aegypti. INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION, v. 12, n. 3, p. 591-596, APR 2012. Web of Science Citations: 12.

MARIANA DEVICARI; ADRIANA RIOS LOPES; LINCOLN SUESDEK. Dimorfismo sexual alar em Aedes scapularis (Diptera: Culicidae). Biota Neotropica, v. 11, n. 2, p. 165-169, Jun. 2011.

VIDAL, PALOMA OLIVEIRA; PERUZIN, MARIA CRISTINA; SUESDEK, LINCOLN. Wing diagnostic characters for Culex quinquefasciatus and Culex nigripalpus (Diptera, Culicidae). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, v. 55, n. 1, p. 134-137, JAN-MAR 2011. Web of Science Citations: 18.

CARVALHO, LEONARDO S.; CANDIANI, DAVID F.; BONALDO, ALEXANDRE B.; SUESDEK, LINCOLN; SILVA, PAULO ROBERTO R. A new species of the sun-spider genus Mummucia (Arachnida: Solifugae: Mummucidae) from Piaui northeastern Brazil. Zootaxa, n. 2690, p. 19-31, NOV 29 2010. Web of Science Citations: 5.

DE MORAIS, SIRLEI ANTUNES; MORATORE, CAMILA; SUESDEK, LINCOLN; MARRELLI, MAURO TOLEDO. Genetic-morphometric variation in Culex quinquefasciatus from Brazil and La Plata, Argentina. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, v. 105, n. 5, p. 672-676, AUG 2010. Web of Science Citations: 20.