The karyotype of the African malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae contains two pairs of autosomes and a pair of sex chromosomes. The Y chromosome, constituting approximately 10% of the genome, remains virtually unexplored, despite the recent completion of the A. gambiae genome project. Here we report the identification and characterization of Y chromosome sequences of total length approaching 150...

Anopheles melas is a brackish water mosquito found in coastal West Africa where it is a dominant malaria vector locally. In order to facilitate genetic studies of this species, 45 microsatellite loci originally developed for Anopheles gambiae were sequenced in An. melas. Those that were suitable based on repeat number and flanking regions were examined in 2 natural populations from Equatorial G...

Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto is the major vector of malaria, a disease with devastating consequences for human health. Given the constant spread of the disease, alternative approaches to the use of insecticides are urgently needed to control vector populations. Females of this species undergo large behavioral changes after mating, which include a life-long refractoriness to further inseminat...

OBJECTIVE To explore temporal variation in insecticide susceptibility of Anopheles gambiae s.l. populations to the four chemical groups of insecticides used in public health and agriculture, in close match with the large-scale cotton spraying programme implemented in the cotton-growing area of North Cameroon. METHODS Mosquito larvae were collected in 2005 before (mid June), during (mid August...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The study was undertaken to characterize factors influencing differential productivity of Anopheles gambiae complex mosquitoes at larval habitats in a rural village in western Kenya. METHODS Longitudinal larval sampling was done using an area sampler for 3 months. Emerged adults were identified to species level morphologically using taxonomic keys and to sub-species by...

BACKGROUND Members of the Anopheles gambiae complex are important vectors of lymphatic filariasis (LF) in sub-Saharan Africa, but little is known about the relative contributions of all mosquitoes to lymphatic filariasis transmission in this area. METHODS Over a 28 month period, mosquitoes were collected from 13 villages in Plateau and Nasarawa states in central Nigeria and dissected to deter...

Studies on the vector competence and their role in the transmission of malaria and filariasis in Makurdi, Nigeria were carried out over a 6 month period in four localities. A total of 475 adult female mosquitoes were morphologically identified and dissected using standard procedures to determine the parity rates, insemination rates, age structure, oocyst, sporozoite and microfilarial worms. 156...

We examined whether predators and competitors influence selection of oviposition sites by Anopheles gambiae Giles. Mosquitoes in cages laid significantly fewer eggs in rainwater conditioned with a predator (backswimmers, Notonecta sp.) than in unconditioned rainwater. Rainwater conditioned with a putative competitor (tadpoles, Xenopus sp.) also had fewer eggs than unconditioned rainwater. Simil...

Irrigation for rice cultivation increases the production of Anopheles gambiae, the main vector of malaria in Mali. Mosquito abundance is highly variable across villages and seasons. We examined whether rice cultivation patterns mapped using remotely sensed imagery can account for some of this variance. We collected entomologic data and mapped land use around 18 villages in the two cropping seas...

We recently characterized 24-hr daily rhythmic patterns of gene expression in Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. These include numerous odorant binding proteins (OBPs), soluble odorant carrying proteins enriched in olfactory organs. Here we demonstrate that multiple rhythmically expressed genes including OBPs and takeout proteins, involved in regulating blood feeding behavior, have corresponding rhy...