Chaiphongpachara Tanawat, Changbunjong Tanasak, Laojun Sedthapong, Sumruayphol Suchada, Suwandittakul Nantana, Kuntawong Kewarin, Pimsuka Siripong
Department of Public Health and Health Promotion, College of Allied Health Sciences, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok 10300, Thailand.
Department of Pre-Clinic and Applied Animal Science, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand.
Heliyon. 2022 Oct 26;8(10):e11261. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11261. eCollection 2022 Oct.
members of the Barbirostris complex are important vectors of malaria in Thailand. However, they are morphologically indistinguishable because they are closely related species. In this study, wing geometric morphometrics (GM) and DNA barcoding based on the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 ( ) gene were applied to differentiate cryptic species of the Barbirostris complex in Thailand. Three cryptic species of the Barbirostris complex, (19.44%), (24.54%), and (56.02%) were initially identified using the multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay. DNA barcoding analyses showed low intraspecific distances (range, 0.27%-0.63%) and high interspecific distances (range, 1.92%-3.68%), consistent with the phylogenetic analyses that showed clear species groups. While wing size and shape analyses based on landmark-based GM indicated differences between three species ( < 0.05). The cross-validated reclassification revealed that the overall efficacy of wing size analysis for species identification of the Barbirostris complex was less than the wing shape analysis (56.43% . 74.29% total performance). Therefore, this study's results are guidelines for applying modern techniques to identify members within the Barbirostris complex, which are still difficult to distinguish by morphology-based identification and contribute to further appropriate malaria control.
巴氏按蚊复合体的成员是泰国疟疾的重要传播媒介。然而，它们在形态上难以区分，因为它们是近缘物种。在本研究中，应用基于地标点的翅几何形态测量学（GM）和基于细胞色素氧化酶亚基1（ ）基因的DNA条形码技术来区分泰国巴氏按蚊复合体的隐存种。使用多重聚合酶链反应分析初步鉴定出巴氏按蚊复合体的三种隐存种，分别为 （19.44%）、 （24.54%）和 （56.02%）。DNA条形码分析显示种内距离较低（范围为0.27%-0.63%），种间距离较高（范围为1.92%-3.68%），这与系统发育分析结果一致，表明存在明显的物种组。而基于地标点的GM进行的翅大小和形状分析表明三种物种之间存在差异（ < 0.05）。交叉验证的重新分类显示，翅大小分析对巴氏按蚊复合体物种鉴定的总体效能低于翅形状分析（总效能分别为56.43%和74.29%）。因此，本研究结果为应用现代技术鉴定巴氏按蚊复合体成员提供了指导，这些成员通过基于形态学的鉴定仍然难以区分，有助于进一步采取适当的疟疾防控措施。
