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Over the past two decades efforts to control malaria have halved the number of cases globally, yet burdens remain high in much of Africa and the elimination of malaria has not been achieved even in areas where extreme reductions have been sustained, such as South Africa1,2. Studies seeking to understand the paradoxical persistence of malaria in areas in which surface water is absent for 3-8 months of the year have suggested that some species of Anopheles mosquito use long-distance migration3. Here we confirm this hypothesis through aerial sampling of mosquitoes at 40-290 m above ground level and provide-to our knowledge-the first evidence of windborne migration of African malaria vectors, and consequently of the pathogens that they transmit. Ten species, including the primary malaria vector Anopheles coluzzii, were identified among 235 anopheline mosquitoes that were captured during 617 nocturnal aerial collections in the Sahel of Mali. Notably, females accounted for more than 80% of all of the mosquitoes that we collected. Of these, 90% had taken a blood meal before their migration, which implies that pathogens are probably transported over long distances by migrating females. The likelihood of capturing Anopheles species increased with altitude (the height of the sampling panel above ground level) and during the wet seasons, but variation between years and localities was minimal. Simulated trajectories of mosquito flights indicated that there would be mean nightly displacements of up to 300 km for 9-h flight durations. Annually, the estimated numbers of mosquitoes at altitude that cross a 100-km line perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction included 81,000 Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto, 6 million A. coluzzii and 44 million Anopheles squamosus. These results provide compelling evidence that millions of malaria vectors that have previously fed on blood frequently migrate over hundreds of kilometres, and thus almost certainly spread malaria over these distances. The successful elimination of malaria may therefore depend on whether the sources of migrant vectors can be identified and controlled.
Pubmed ID: 31578527
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DNA barcode data with an online workbench that supports data validation, annotation, and publication for specimen, distributional, and molecular data. The data platform consists of three main modules, a data portal, a database of barcode clusters, and data collection workbench. The Public Data Portal provides access to all public barcode data which consists of data generated using the Workbench module as well as data mined from other sources. The Barcode Index Number (BIN) system assigns a unique identifier to each sequence cluster of COI, providing an interim taxonomic system for species in the animal kingdom. The workbench module integrates secure databases with analytical tools to provide a private collaborative environment for researchers to collect, analyze, and publish barcode data and ancillary DNA sequences. This platform also provides an annotation framework that supports tagging and commenting on records and their components (i.e. taxonomy, images, and sequences), allowing for community-based validation of barcode data. By providing specialized services, it aids in the assembly of records that meet the standards needed to gain BARCODE designation in the global sequence databases. Because of its web-based delivery and flexible data security model, it is also well positioned to support projects that involve broad research alliances. Public data records include record identifiers, taxonomy, specimen details, collection information and sequence data. Data that has been publicly released through BOLD can be retrieved manually through the BOLD public interface or automatically through BOLD web services. BOLD analytical tools are available for any data set that exists in BOLD (including publicly available data). Analytical tools can be accessed through the BOLD Project Console under the headings Sequences Analysis or Specimen Aggregates. Some examples include Taxon ID Tree, Alignment Viewer, Distribution Maps, and Image Library.
View all literature mentionsA company that provides a variety of next generation sequencing services. The company provides researchers with whole genome resequencing, exome sequencing, targeted sequencing, transcriptomics, and epigenome sequencing.
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