Hancock, P. A. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2019

Analysis-ready datasets for insecticide resistance phenotype and genotype frequency in African malaria vectors

The impact of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors is poorly understood and quantified. Here a series of geospatial datasets for insecticide resistance in malaria vectors are provided so that trends in resistance in time and space can be quantified and the impact of resistance found in wild populations on malaria transmission in Africa can be assessed. Data are also provided for common genetic markers of resistance to support analyses of whether these genetic data can improve the ability to monitor resistance in low resource settings. Specifically, data have been collated and geopositioned for the prevalence of insecticide resistance, as measured by standard bioassays, in representative samples of individual species or species complexes. Data are provided for the Anopheles gambiae species complex, the Anopheles funestus subgroup, and for nine individual vector species. In addition, allele frequencies for known resistance associated markers in the Voltage-gated sodium channel (Vgsc) are provided. In total, eight analysis-ready, standardised, geopositioned datasets encompassing over 20,000 African mosquito collections between 1957 and 2017 are provided.

zoology↗

bioRxiv2018

Predicting The Spatial Dynamics Of Wolbachia Infections In Aedes aegypti Arbovirus Vector Populations In Heterogeneous Landscapes

O_LIA promising strategy for reducing the transmission of dengue and other arboviral human diseases by Aedes aegypti mosquito vector populations involves field introductions of the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia. Wolbachia infections inhibit viral transmission by the mosquito, and can spread between mosquito hosts to reach high frequencies in the vector population. Wolbachia spreads by maternal transmission, and spread dynamics can be variable and highly dependent on natural mosquito population dynamics, population structure and fitness components.\nC_LIO_LIWe develop a mathematical model of an Ae. aegypti metapopulation that incorporates empirically validated relationships describing density-dependent mosquito fitness components. We assume that density dependence relationships differ across subpopulations, and construct heterogeneous landscapes for which model-predicted patterns of variation in mosquito abundance and demography approximate those observed in field populations. We then simulate Wolbachia release strategies similar to that used in field trials.\nC_LIO_LIWe show that our model can produce rates of spatial spread of Wolbachia similar to those observed following field releases.\nC_LIO_LIWe then investigate how different types of spatio-temporal variation in mosquito habitat, as well as different fitness costs incurred by Wolbachia on the mosquito host, influence predicted spread rates. We find that fitness costs reduce spread rates more strongly when the habitat landscape varies temporally due to stochastic and seasonal processes.\nC_LIO_LIOur empirically based modelling approach represents effects of environmental heterogeneity on the spatial spread of Wolbachia. The models can assist in interpreting observed spread patterns following field releases and in designing suitable release strategies for targeting spatially heterogeneous vector populations.\nC_LI

ecology↗