A preliminary report on DNA barcoding and phylogenetic relationships of certain public health important mosquito species recorded in rural areas of south India.

and classification of species. Species were identified and classified by morphological key-based method. However, the conventional morphology-based taxonomical methods have many demerits. The inherent limitations of the conventional taxonomical identification methods indicate the need for a new and simple method of taxon identification. Mosquito remains the major contributor of causing nuisance and transmitting deadly pathogens to human. Correct identification and classification of mosquito vector is the central part to the study of vector-borne disease surveillance and control. The conventional morphology-based identification methods are time consuming and not always sufficient to identify at the species level. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach including morphological and molecular techniques is essential. DNA barcode technique has been found promising in the rapid description of biodiversity1. DNA barcoding works by amplifying a short stretch of a single gene of mitochondria of the animal kingdom. The technique has also been used in the identification of sibling species of mosquitoes2. The present work describes the use of DNA barcoding method in molecular identification of certain public health important mosquito species recorded in Tirupuvanam block villages of Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu. During 2007–08, adult mosquitoes were collected from Tirupuvanam block villages of Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu as per the method described by Pandian et al3. Adult mosquitoes were brought to the laboratory and identified as per the standard taxonomical keys4–7. Total genomic DNA was extracted from the whole mosquito species by using the commercially available DNA extraction kit (M/s. Genei Pvt Limited, Bengaluru) as per the manufacturer’s instructions. PCR was carried out as described by Collins et al8 in an PTC-100 Thermal cycler (M/s MJ Research, USA). The primer sets were selected J Vector Borne Dis 50, June 2013, pp. 144–146