Nucleotide sequences of the circadian rhythm genes, period and timeless, were studied for the first time in mosquitoes Culex pipiens Linnaeus, 1758. In this work we evaluated variations of the studied genome fragments for the two forms of Culex pipiens (forma "pipiens" - mosquitoes common for aboveground habitats, forma "molestus" - underground mosquitoes). We compared Culex pipiens from Russia...

BACKGROUND Blood feeding by free-living insect vectors of disease is rhythmic and can be used to predict when infectious bites will occur. These daily rhythms can also be targeted by control measures, as in insecticide-treated nets. Culex pipiens form pipiens and C.p. f. molestus are two members of the Culex pipiens assemblage and vectors of West Nile Virus throughout North America. Although Cu...

Mosquitoes collected in Germany in 2016, including Culex pipiens pipiens biotype pipiens, Culex torrentium and Aedes albopictus, as well as Culex pipiens pipiens biotype molestus (in colony since 2011) were experimentally infected with Zika virus (ZIKV) at 18 °C or 27 °C. None of the Culex taxa showed vector competence for ZIKV. In contrast, Aedes albopictus were susceptible for ZIKV but only a...

Mosquitoes and other arthropods may transmit medically important pathogens, in particular viruses such as West Nile virus. The presence of suitable hosts and competent vectors for those zoonotic viruses is essential for an enzootic transmission, which is a prerequisite for epidemics. To establish reliable risk projections, it is an urgent need for an exact identification of mosquito species, wh...

The definition and phylogenetic placement of the autogenous molestus form of Culex pipiens has puzzled entomologists for decades. We identified genetic differences between Cx. p. pipiens (L.) and Cx. pipiens f. molestus Forskål in the SH60 fragment described previously. Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis, cloning, and sequencing of this fragment demonstrated high polymorphism with...

BACKGROUND Culex pipiens molestus was first reported in Shanghai in 2010. The population structures and seasonal distributions of Culex pipiens subspecies C. p. molestus, Culex pipiens pallens, and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus are not well known. METHODS From late February to November 2013, we conducted daily field surveillance of mosquitoes at eight sites at two green lands and three resid...

Microsatellite markers were used to genetically characterize 19 Culex pipiens complex populations from California. Two populations showed characteristics of earlier genetic bottlenecks. The overall FST value and a neighbor-joining tree suggested moderate amounts of genetic differentiation. Analyses using Structure indicated K = 4 genetic clusters: Cx. pipiens form pipiens L., Cx. quinquefasciat...

Mosquitoes in the Culex pipiens complex are considered to be involved in the transmission of a range of pathogens, including West Nile virus (WNV). Although its taxonomic status is still debated, the complex includes species, both globally distributed or with a more limited distribution, morphologically similar and characterised by different physiological and behavioural traits, which affect th...

Three members of the Culex pipiens complex mosquitoes, Culex pipiens L. (including the pipiens and molestus forms) and Culex torrentium Martini, occur in the European part of Russia. The geographical and biotopic distribution of these mosquitoes was studied using molecular-genetic methods for their identification. They included Wolbachia infection, sizes of ITS2 of rDNA, polymerase chain reacti...

Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) induced by the endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis causes complex patterns of crossing sterility between populations of the Culex pipiens group of mosquitoes. The molecular basis of the phenotype is yet to be defined. In order to investigate what host changes may underlie CI at the molecular level, we examined the transcription of a homolog of the Drosophila melano...