Identification of the Anopheles gambiae leucokinin gene from the completed A. gambiae genome revealed that this insect species contains three leucokinin peptides, named Anopheles leucokinin I-III. These peptides are similar to those identified in two other mosquito species, Aedes aegypti and Culex salinarius. Additionally, Anopheles leucokinin I displays sequence similarity to Drosophila melano...

Zika virus is a newly emergent mosquito-borne flavivirus that has caused recent large outbreaks in the new world, leading to dramatic increases in serious disease pathology including Guillain-Barre syndrome, newborn microcephaly, and infant brain damage. Although Aedes mosquitoes are thought to be the primary mosquito species driving infection, the virus has been isolated from dozens of mosquit...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Urban malaria is on the rise in Nigeria due to rapid industrialisation and developmental activities. A study was undertaken in Lagos, Nigeria to study the Anopheles breeding in polluted water bodies. METHODS Anopheles larval breeding habitats were surveyed and water samples from 24 larval breeding sites from four strategic areas in urban Lagos were analysed. The relatio...

Chemosensory proteins (CSPs) are identifiable by four spatially conserved Cysteine residues in their primary structure or by two disulfide bridges in their tertiary structure according to the previously identified olfactory specific-D related proteins. A genomics- and bioinformatics-based approach is taken in the present study to identify the putative CSPs in the malaria-carrying mosquito, Anop...

OBJECTIVE Insecticide resistance molecular markers can provide sensitive indicators of resistance development in Anopheles vector populations. Assaying these makers is of paramount importance in the resistance monitoring programme. We investigated the presence and distribution of knock-down resistance (kdr) mutations in Anopheles gambiae s.l. in Tanzania. METHODS Indoor-resting Anopheles mosq...

Since 1988 malaria epidemics have occurred in multiple sites in western Kenya highlands. Climatic variability has been associated with some of the recent epidemics. We examined influences of climatic factors on the distribution and abundance of three malaria vector species, Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles arabiensis, and Anopheles funestus in western Kenya and in the Great Rift Valley. Mosquito sa...

Anopheles gambiae sensu lato Giles, 1902 and Anophelesfunestus Giles, 1900 are the main malaria vectors on the island of Bioko (Equatorial Guinea). This study was carried out to determine: a) members of the An. gambiae complex that may be present on the island of Bioko and, b) the sensitivity of An. gambiae sensu stricto to pyrethroids. The analysis by PCR detected the presence of An. gambiae s...

Wolbachia pipientis bacteria are maternally inherited endosymbionts that are of interest to control the Anopheles mosquito vectors of malaria. Wolbachia does not infect Anopheles mosquitoes in nature, although cultured Anopheles cells can be infected. Here, we show that the virulent Wolbachia strain wMelPop can survive and replicate when injected into female Anopheles gambiae adults, but the so...

It was in Freetown, Sierra Leone, that the malaria mosquito Anopheles coastalis, now known as Anopheles gambiae, was first discovered as the vector of malaria, in 1899. That discovery led to a pioneering vector research in Sierra Leone and neighbouring Liberia, where mosquito species were extensively characterized. Unfortunately, the decade long civil conflicts of the 1990s, in both countries, ...