Anopheles funestus Giles, 1900 is considered one of the most proficient malaria vectors world‐ wide [1]. It thrives in a wide range of habitats through the Afrotropical Region. Largely neglected with regard to its counterpart Anopheles gambiae, An. funestus cannot be ignored in any comprehensive control program aiming at the eradication of malaria from the African continent. Its transmission role goes beyond that of secondary vector, surpassing An. gam‐ biae in many parts of Africa [2]. One of the main reasons of this inattention is the difficulty of adapting this species to standard insectary conditions, despite noteworthy molecular and epidemiological advances over the past three decades. Currently, substantial evidence shows that a group of species belongs to the taxon “An. funestus”, with different morphological, behavioural and epidemiological characteristics.

/pdf/advances-and-perspectives-in-the-study-of-the-malaria-a0eq08bkh0.pdf

Advances and Perspectives in the Study of the Malaria Mosquito Anopheles funestus

BACKGROUND: 

Anopheles funestus is one of the major malaria vectors in Africa and yet there are few genomic tools available for this species compared to An. gambiae. To start to close this knowledge gap, we sequenced the An. funestus transcriptome using cDNA libraries developed from a pyrethroid resistant laboratory strain and a pyrethroid susceptible field strain from Mali.

RESULTS: 

Using a pool of life stages (pupae, larvae, adults: females and males) for each strain, 454 sequencing generated 375,619 reads (average length of 182 bp). De novo assembly generated 18,103 contigs with average length of 253 bp. The average depth of coverage of these contigs was 8.3. In total 20.8% of all reads were novel when compared to reference databases. The sequencing of the field strain generated 204,758 reads compared to 170,861 from the insecticide resistant laboratory strain. The contigs most differentially represented in the resistant strain belong to the P450 gene family and cuticular genes which correlates with previous studies implicating both of these gene families in pyrethroid resistance. qPCR carried out on six contigs indicates that these ESTs could be suitable for gene expression studies such as microarray. 31,000 sites were estimated to contain Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and analysis of SNPs from 20 contigs suggested that most of these SNPs are likely to be true SNPs. Gene conservation analysis confirmed the close phylogenetic relationship between An. funestus and An. gambiae.

CONCLUSION: 

This study represents a significant advance for the genetics and genomics of An. funestus since it provides an extensive set of both Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) and SNPs which can be readily adopted for the design of new genomic tools such as microarray or SNP platforms.

/pdf/a-de-novo-expression-profiling-of-anopheles-funestus-malaria-256n4bcr1f.pdf

A de novo expression profiling of Anopheles funestus, malaria vector in Africa, using 454 pyrosequencing.

A transcriptomic analysis of striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) in response to salinity adaptation: De novo assembly, gene annotation and marker discovery

The striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) culture industry in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam has developed rapidly over the past decade. The culture industry now however, faces some significant challenges, especially related to climate change impacts notably from predicted extensive saltwater intrusion into many low topographical coastal provinces across the Mekong Delta. This problem highlights a need for development of culture stocks that can tolerate more saline culture environments as a response to expansion of saline water-intruded land. While a traditional artificial selection program can potentially address this need, understanding the genomic basis of salinity tolerance can assist development of more productive culture lines. The current study applied a transcriptomic approach using Ion PGM technology to generate expressed sequence tag (EST) resources from the intestine and swim bladder from striped catfish reared at a salinity level of 9 ppt which showed best growth performance. Total sequence data generated was 467.8 Mbp, consisting of 4,116,424 reads with an average length of 112 bp. De novo assembly was employed that generated 51,188 contigs, and allowed identification of 16,116 putative genes based on the GenBank non-redundant database. GO annotation, KEGG pathway mapping, and functional annotation of the EST sequences recovered with a wide diversity of biological functions and processes. In addition, more than 11,600 simple sequence repeats were also detected. This is the first comprehensive analysis of a striped catfish transcriptome, and provides a valuable genomic resource for future selective breeding programs and functional or evolutionary studies of genes that influence salinity tolerance in this important culture species.

This study describes the bio-ecology of local Anopheles vectors, their abundance, type and vectoral competence in three communities around Kumasi Metropolis. The study sites were selected based on bio-ecologic zones (urban, peri-urban and rural) which influence habitat and behavior. Pyrethrum spray catch was used in the collection of indoor resting mosquitoes from bedrooms of study communities (June-August 2008). The identification of mosquitoes was based on morphological keys earlier described. The blood meal taken and the stage of digestion and egg development were also observed. A total of 293 mosquitoes were collected and 50.5% were A. gambiae s.l. Of the three bio-ecologic zones: urban, 53.4% were A. gambiae s.l, 27.2% Culex and 19.4% Mansonia; peri-urban, 58% A. gambiae s.1 and 42% Culex pipien s.1 and rural, 40.2% A. gambiae s.1, and 58.8% Culex sp respectively. About 96.6% of all mosquitoes collected had taken blood meals, with 50% of these being Anopheles gambiae s.l. Our findings indicate that urban rather exhibits rural characteristics and can best be described as "urban poor". However, more data need to be collected to ascertain this. The anopheline mosquitoes in the study communities are highly endophillic and anthropophagic and thus have high vectoral competence. The authors recommend frequent mosquito surveillance to avert malaria epidemic.

Entomological Survey of Malaria Vectors within the Kumasi Metropolitan Area—A Study of Three Communities: Emena, Atonsu and Akropong

Background
Anopheles funestus is a principal vector of malaria across much of tropical Africa and is considered one of the most efficient of its kind, yet studies of this species have lagged behind those of its broadly sympatric congener, An. gambiae. In aid of future genomic sequencing of An. funestus, we explored the whole body transcriptome, derived from mixed stage progeny of wild-caught females from Mali, West Africa.

/pdf/comparative-analysis-of-the-global-transcriptome-of-372sx0sgs0.pdf

Comparative analysis of the global transcriptome of Anopheles funestus from Mali, West Africa.

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Comparative analysis of the global transcriptome of Anopheles funestus from Mali, West Africa.