Department of Entomology and W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Campus Box 7613, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7613, USA.
J Med Entomol. 2012 Jul;49(4):865-75. doi: 10.1603/me11202.
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L.) are a resurgent pest worldwide and infestations within the United States are increasing at a rapid rate. Because of the physical and psychological discomfort inflicted by their blood feeding habits, and allergies and secondary infections associated with bites, bed bugs are recognized as a significant public health problem. Although bed bug infestations are spreading and becoming more prevalent, we have a poor understanding of their dispersal patterns and sources of infestation. To help fill this gap, we conducted a genetic study of 21 bed bug infestations from the eastern United States, nearly all of which came from single rooms within residences. We genotyped samples comprised of 8-10 individuals per infestation at nine polymorphic microsatellite loci. Despite high genetic diversity across all infestations, with 5-17 alleles per locus (mean = 10.3 alleles per locus), we found low genetic diversity (1-4 alleles per locus) within all but one of the infestations. These results suggest that nearly all the studied infestations were started by a small propagule possibly consisting of a singly mated female and/or her progeny, or a female mated with multiple males that were highly related to her. All infestations were strongly genetically differentiated from each other (mean pairwise F(ST) between populations = 0.68) and we did not find strong evidence of a geographic pattern of genetic structure, indicating infestations located in closer proximity to each other were nearly as genetically differentiated as those located hundreds of kilometers away. The high level of genetic diversity across infestations from the eastern United States together with the lack of geographically organized structure is consistent with multiple introductions into the United States from foreign sources.
床虱（Cimex lectularius L.）是一种在全球范围内重新出现的害虫，其在美国的滋生率正在迅速上升。由于其吸血习性所带来的身体和心理不适，以及与叮咬相关的过敏和二次感染，床虱被认为是一个重大的公共卫生问题。尽管床虱的滋生正在蔓延并变得更加普遍，但我们对其传播模式和滋生源的了解仍然有限。为了帮助填补这一空白，我们对来自美国东部的 21 个床虱滋生地进行了一项遗传研究，这些滋生地几乎都来自住宅内的单个房间。我们对每个滋生地由 8-10 个人组成的样本进行了 9 个多态性微卫星基因座的基因分型。尽管所有滋生地的遗传多样性都很高，每个基因座有 5-17 个等位基因（每个基因座平均 10.3 个等位基因），但除了一个滋生地之外，所有滋生地的遗传多样性都很低（每个基因座 1-4 个等位基因）。这些结果表明，几乎所有研究的滋生地都是由一个小的繁殖体引发的，这个繁殖体可能由一只交配过的雌性和/或她的后代，或一只与多个高度相关的雄性交配而成。所有滋生地彼此之间的遗传分化都非常强烈（种群之间平均成对 F(ST) = 0.68），我们没有发现遗传结构存在明显的地理模式的强烈证据，这表明彼此之间距离较近的滋生地在遗传上几乎与那些相距数百公里的滋生地一样分化。美国东部的床虱滋生地的遗传多样性水平很高，而地理结构却没有明显的组织，这与床虱是从国外多个地方传入美国的说法是一致的。
