Journal article

Genome-wide SNPs reveal the drivers of gene flow in an urban population of the Asian Tiger Mosquito, Aedes albopictus

TL Schmidt, G Rašić, D Zhang, X Zheng, Z Xi, AA Hoffmann

Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2017

Abstract

Aedes albopictus is a highly invasive disease vector with an expanding worldwide distribution. Genetic assays using low to medium resolution markers have found little evidence of spatial genetic structure even at broad geographic scales, suggesting frequent passive movement along human transportation networks. Here we analysed genetic structure of Aedes albopictus collected from 12 sample sites in Guangzhou, China, using thousands of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We found evidence for passive gene flow, with distance from shipping terminals being the strongest predictor of genetic distance among mosquitoes. As further evidence of passive dispersal, we found multiple pai..

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University of Melbourne Researchers