Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:19:03.271Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Phlebotomus caucasicus and Phlebotomus mongolensis (Diptera: Psychodidae): indistinguishable by the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2009

P. Parvizi*
Affiliation:
Molecular Systematics Laboratory, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum, London, UK
H. Taherkhani
Affiliation:
Medical Faculty, University of Golastan Medical Sciences, Golastan, Iran
P.D. Ready
Affiliation:
Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum, London, UK
*
*Author for correspondence Fax: +98 21 66469132 E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Diagnostic molecular markers for the females of Phlebotomus (Paraphlebotomus) caucasicus and P. mongolensis were sought by characterizing from individual Iranian specimens a gene fragment, namely mitochondrial cytochrome b, that had previously proven useful for the taxonomy of phlebotomine sandflies. Males of both species were used as reference material because their external genitalia provide the only diagnostic morphological characters. A phylogenetic analysis of the new sequences, and those previously reported for P. grimmi, found no support for recognizing more than one species (P. caucasicus s.l.) in Iran. Most of the genetic variation was geographical. An absence of lineage sorting was demonstrated, and it is proposed that any search for species-specific molecular markers for these three taxonomic species should be continued by applied biologists only if there is better evidence for associating any one of them with phenotypes important for understanding the transmission of Leishmania species in foci of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Type
Research Paper
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Esseghir, S., Ready, P.D. & Ben-Ismail, R. (2000) Speciation of Phlebotomus sandflies of the subgenus Larroussius coincided with the late Miocene-Pliocene aridification of the Mediterranean subregion. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 70, 189219.Google Scholar
Javadian, E. & Seyedi-Rasti, M.A. (1991) Sandflies and their leptomonad infection in Iran. Parassitologia (Suppl.) 33, 50.Google Scholar
Kasiri, H. (2000) List of Phlebotominae (Diptera: Psychodidae) of Iran. Bulletin de la Societe de Pathologie Exotique 93, 129130.Google Scholar
Killick-Kendrick, R. (1990) Phlebotomine vectors of the leishmaniases: A review. Medical and Veterinary Entomololgy 4, 124.Google Scholar
Lewis, D.J. (1982) A taxonomic review of the genus Phlebotomus (Diptera: Psychodidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 45, 121209.Google Scholar
Moin-Vaziri, V., Depaquit, J., Yaghoobi-Ershadi, M.R., Oshaghi, M.A., Derakhshandeh-Peykar, P., Ferte, H., Kaltenbach, M., Bargues, M.D., Nadim, A., Javadian, E., Rassi, Y. & Jafari, R. (2007) Geographical variation in populations of Phlebotomus (Paraphlebotomus) caucasicus (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Iran. Bulletin de la Societe de Pathologie Exotique 100, 291295.Google ScholarPubMed
Nadim, A. & Javadian, E. (1976) Key for species identification of sandflies (Phlebotominae; Diptera) of Iran. Iranian Journal of Public Health 5, 3544.Google Scholar
Nadim, A. & Seyedi-Rashti, M.A. (1971) A brief review of the epidemiology of various types of leishmaniasis in Iran. Acta Medica Iranica 14, 99–106.Google Scholar
Nadim, A., Mesghali, A. & Amini, H. (1968) Epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Isfahan province of Iran III. The vector. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 62, 543549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parvizi, P. & Ready, P.D. (2006) Molecular investigation of the population differentiation of Phlebotomus papatasi, important vector of Leishmania major in different habitats and regions of Iran. Iranian Biomedical Journal 10, 6977.Google Scholar
Parvizi, P. & Ready, P.D. (2008) Nested PCRs of nuclear ITS-rDNA fragments detect three Leishmania species of gerbils in sanflies from Iranian Foci of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. Tropical Medicine and International Health 13, 11591171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parvizi, P, Benlarbi, M. & Ready, P.D. (2003) Mitochondrial and Wolbachia markers for the sandfly Phlebotomus papatasi: little population differentiation between peridomestic sites and gerbil burrows in Isfahan province, Iran. Medical and Veterinary Entomololgy 17, 351362.Google Scholar
Parvizi, P., Mauricio, I., Aransay, A.M., Miles, M.A. & Ready, P.D. (2005) First detection of Leishmania major in peridomestic Iranian sandflies: comparison of nested PCR of nuclear ITS ribosomal DNA and semi-nested PCR of minicircle kinetoplast DNA. Acta Tropica 93, 7583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pesson, B., Ready, J.S., Benabdennbi, I., Martín-Sánchez, J., Esseghir, S., Cadi-Soussi, M., Morillas-Marquez, F. & Ready, P.D. (2004) Sandflies of the Phlebotomus perniciosus complex: mitochondrial introgression and a new sibling species of P. longicuspis in the Moroccan Rif. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 18, 2537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perfil'ev, P.P. (1966) Fauna of the USSR Diptera. Academy of Sciences of USSR, Zoological Institute. New Series, no. 93, III. (Translated from Russian by Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem).Google Scholar
Ready, P.D. (2008) Leishmania manipulates sandfly feeding to enhance its transmission. Trends Parasitology 24, 151153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ready, P.D., Lainson, R., Shaw, J.J. & Souza, A.A. (1991) DNA probes for distinguishing Psychodopygus wellcomei from Psychodopygus complexus (Diptera:Psychodidae). Memorias Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 86, 4149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seccombe, A.K., Ready, P.D. & Huddleston, L.M. (1993) A catalogue of Old World Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae). The Natural History Museum Occasional Papers on Systematic Entomology 8, 157.Google Scholar
Sudia, W.D. & Chamberland, R.W. (1962) Battery operated light trap, an improved model. Mosquito News 22, 126129.Google Scholar
Swofford, D.L. (2002) PAUP*: Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (* and other methods) version 4.0. Sunderland, MA, USA, Sinauer Associates.Google Scholar
Testa, J.M., Montoya-Lerma, J., Cadena, H., Oviedo, M. & Ready, P.D. (2002) Molecular identification of vectors of Leishmania in Colombia: mitochondrial introgression in the Lutzomyia townsendi series. Acta Tropica 84, 205218.Google Scholar
Theodor, O. & Mesghali, A. (1964) On the Phlebotominae of Iran. Journal of Medical Entomology 1, 285300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yaghoobi-Ershadi, M.R., Javadian, E. & Tahvildare-Bidruni, G.H. (1995) Leishmania major MON-26 isolated from naturally infected Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Isfahan Province, Iran. Acta Tropica 59, 279282.Google Scholar