Avaliação da variabilidade genética de mosquitos das espécies Aedes aegypti e Culex quinquefasciatus, provenientes de pontos estratégicos da Região Metropolitana do Recife

Abstract

Invasive species such as Aedes (Ae.) and Culex (Cx.) mosquitoes play a relevant role due to their association with the transmission of several arboviruses such as Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika viruses. The complexity in controlling these mosquitoes becomes a challenge when we consider the effects of globalization, the changes climate change and the disorderly processof urbanization in urban centers. Alternative control methods have been developed and implemented to control dispersion and transmission of pathogens by these vectors. Nonetheless,despite all efforts, epidemics show constants. With this, knowing more about the biology of thevector can help in the creation of more effective strategies of control, in order to reduce the populations of these Culicidae and consequently the transmission of arboviruses. That said, in order to evaluate mosquitoes collected at points of entrance of the Metropolitan Region of Recife, this work analyzed the genetic variability of the species Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus in four locations, Porto do Recife, Terminal Integrado de Passageiros, Porto de Suape and the Centro de Abastecimento e Logística de Pernambuco. Eggs and immature forms of these Culicidae were collected and later taken to the insectary of the Department of Entomology at IAM, where they completed their development cycle for collection of adults. Females from these populations underwent DNA extraction, followed by PCR amplification ofthe mitochondrial genes Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit I (COI) and NADH subunit 4 (ND4), sequenced and analyzed. The analysis performed for the COI gene revealed low nucleotide diversity ([pi]=0.00174; 0.00016) for both species. As for the ND4 gene, the nucleotide diversitywas (pi) 0.01086 and 0.0000, for the populations of A. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus, respectively. The analysis of the COI and ND4 gene for A. aegypti populations revealed the presence of 5 and 34 haplotypes, respectively, with the H1 and H3 haplotypes being the most frequent, present in 91.48% and 56%. Analysis of the COI and ND4 gene for Cx. quinquefasciatus populations. revealed the presence of four and one haplotype, respectively, with the H1 haplotype being the most frequent for the COI gene, present in 96.04% of the individuals. In view of the results obtained, it was observed that the species A. aegypti is more diverse than the species Cx. quinquefasciatus, in addition, the TIP locality has the highest rates of nucleotide diversity for both species, which may be linked to the multiple introductions of these Culicidae that are promoted by the constant flow of people and transport of different types.