A rapid polymerase chain reaction based method for identification of the Anopheles dirus sibling species.

A simple polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based method was developed to differentiate the Anopheles dirus, species A, B, C and D in Thailand using specific primers designed from species specific sequences. The PCR protocol was optimized to obtain products of 120 bp, 75 bp, 60 bp and 172 bp for species A, B, C and D, respectively. This method used a cocktail of four primer sets to identify these An. dirus sibling species. The method is very sensitive as only a small portion of mosquito was required allowing the rest of the mosquito to be used for other analyses. Specimens also kept for up to 14 years could be analyzed unambiguously from either larvae or adult. This method is advantageous over other PCR-based methods for identification of malaria vectors because it does not require any specific DNA extraction. A mosquito specimen was homogenized in 1x PCR buffer, then the supernatant directly used for PCR identification, allowing a large number of samples to be processed at the same time. It provides a simple and rapid practical method for screening An. dirus species, which is essential in malaria vector epidemiological studies in Southeast Asia.