Isolation and characterization of microsatellite DNA markers in the malaria vector Anopheles maculipennis

Abstract

The Anopheles maculipennis complex includes the most important malaria vectors of the western Palearctic. Anopheles maculipennis s.s., one member of this complex, is a reported vector in the Middle East. Here we describe the isolation of 15 microsatellite polymorphic loci from the An. maculipennis s.s. genome, displaying a high among individual diversity (0.37-0.77) in a sample from France. Three loci displayed a significant departure from Hardy-Weinberg proportions, suggesting a substantial frequency of null alleles. The remaining 12 loci are good candidates for further genetic studies in this species.