Abstract

BEJARANO, Eduar Elías et al. Genetic analysis of a recently detected urban population of Lutzomyia evansi (Diptera: Psychodidae)in Colombia. Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent. [online]. 2009, vol.68, n.1-2, pp.135-141. ISSN 0373-5680.

Lutzomyia evansi (Núñez-Tovar) is the vector of the parasite Leishmania infantum in rural zones of Northern Colombia. An attempt was made to determine the origin of a recently detected urban population of Lutzomyia evansi by genetically characterizing specimens from seven geographically distinct localities in the Colombian Caribbean. Insect specimens were collected in rural and urban environments of areas endemic for visceral leishmaniasis or free of the disease. Nine polymorphic sites, nine nucleotide haplotypes and a single aminoacid haplotype were found within the 315 bp fragment sequenced, corresponding to the 3' end of the cytochrome b mitochondrial gene. Paired genetic distances between the haplotypes, estimated with the Kimura two-parameters model, varied from 0,0032-0,0194. Analysis revealed low genetic variability between specimens from urban and rural localities. Several of the sand flies collected in the city of Sincelejo (department of Sucre), where autochthonous visceral leishmaniasis cases have appeared in recent years, were genetically similar to those of a rural focus of the disease (El Contento, on the neighboring department of Córdoba). The epidemiological implications of this finding for Leishmania infantum transmission in the Colombian Caribbean are discussed.

Keywords : Sand flies; Genetics; Lutzomyia evansi; Visceral leishmaniasis; Colombia.

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