Molecular characterization of Armigeres subalbatus from Hyderabad region of Telangana state, India

Background & objectives:The mosquito Armigeres subalbatus (Coquillett, 1898) is a significant vector for Japanese encephalitis infection and breeds in high organic polluted water. Understanding mosquito diversity and their abundance in relation to mosquito-borne diseases is an important component for public health managers. Though the conventional methods for systematic position of mosquito species by using morphological characteristics is a classical method, it requires expertise and well-preserved specimens. Conversely, molecular analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) serves as a gene-centric DNA barcoding approach and offers a promising alternative method for mosquito species identification.Methods:The study at hand delves into the morphological characteristics of Armigeres subalbatus, compared with COI-gene to ensure a more dependable verification for identification of mosquito species found in Hyderabad region of Telangana state of India.Results:The 489 base pair amplicons were acquired and deposited into the NCBI Gene Bank nucleotide database under the accession number MG686500. The maximum likelihood tree infers that the Hyderabad species was diverged from the USA and Japan species but had ancestral relationship with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharastra, Kerala and Goa species of India.Interpretation & conclusion:Mitochondrial gene (COI) based DNA barcoding is the most reliable and potential alternative technique to identify mosquito species.