Favia G, Louis C
Istituto di Parassitologia, Università La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
Parassitologia. 1999 Sep;41(1-3):115-8.
The Afrotropical malaria vectors Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto and An. arabiensis, responsible for more than 3/4 of the world Plasmodium falciparum inoculations, are members of the Anopheles gambiae complex, a group consisting of six sibling species. The nominal species (An. gambiae s.s.) is by far the most anthropophilic vector and its adaptation to man and his environment involves further ongoing speciation processes. This fact is shown by the existence of a number of incipient taxonomic units characterised by different chromosomal arrangements derived from the presence of polymorphic paracentric inversions. This speciation process is centered in West Africa, where five so-called 'chromosomal forms' have been described, designated with a non-Linnean nomenclature: Forest, Bissau, Savanna, Bamako, and Mopti. Studies on the distribution and the ecology of these incipient species have highlighted specific adaptations to eco-ethological parameters, which might reflect on their relative efficiency as malaria vectors. Cytogenetic analysis, in spite of some inherent difficulties, has proved to be a powerful tool for the identification of An. gambiae sibling species and the individual chromosomal forms. Yet, modern molecular tools are now available, providing alternative faster low-cost technologies, and we discuss here their relative merits.
热带非洲疟蚊冈比亚按蚊指名亚种和阿拉伯按蚊传播了世界上超过3/4的恶性疟原虫感染，它们是冈比亚按蚊复合体的成员，该复合体由六个姐妹种组成。指名种（冈比亚按蚊指名亚种）是目前最嗜人的媒介，其对人类及其环境的适应涉及进一步的物种形成过程。这一事实表现为存在一些初始分类单元，其特征是由于多态性臂内倒位的存在而产生的不同染色体排列。这一物种形成过程集中在西非，在那里已经描述了五种所谓的“染色体型”，用非林奈命名法命名：森林型、比绍型、稀树草原型、巴马科型和莫普提型。对这些初始物种的分布和生态的研究突出了它们对生态行为参数的特定适应性，这可能反映了它们作为疟疾媒介的相对效率。细胞遗传学分析尽管存在一些固有困难，但已被证明是鉴定冈比亚按蚊姐妹种和单个染色体型的有力工具。然而，现代分子工具现已可用，提供了替代的更快的低成本技术，我们在此讨论它们的相对优点。
