Molecular Characterization and Phylogenetic Analysis of Culex quinquefasciatus by DNA Barcoding

Abstract

The southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, predominantly exists all through the tropics acts as a vector causing several parasitic diseases; it is very important mosquito in transmitting certain diseases which include filariasis. The progression of this disease is due to swift urbanization. In fact, morphological identification mosquito species is very difficult task; moreover, origin of the species is unpredictable. Recently, DNA barcoding of partial mitochondrial COI gene is very popular in DNA based identification of mosquito species. Timely reporting of mosquitoes is very crucial in vector born disease control. In this respect, in the present study, larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus species in Hyderabad, India was collected and reared to adults. Total DNA including mitochondrial DNA was isolated and partial mitochondrial COI gene was amplified. Interestingly, Hyderabad species sequence is found to be novel when compared to other geographical regions of the world, therefore, the same sequence was submitted to NCBI-Nucleotide database and accession number of JX08870 was assigned; to confirm it further, multiple alignment of Culex species was accomplished. Further, phylogenetic analysis was carried out to check the evolutionary pattern of Hyderabad species. In conclusion, partial mitochondrial COI gene of Hyderabad species is found to be novel and it can be used as DNA barcode for molecular characterization. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that Hyderabad species is more close to UK species.