Population structure of the Chagas disease vector Triatoma infestans in an urban environment

Chagas disease is a vector-borne disease endemic in Latin America. Triatoma infestans, a common vector of this disease, has recently expanded its range into rapidly developing cities of Latin America. We aim to identify the environmental features that affect the colonization and dispersal of T. infestans in an urban environment. We amplified 13 commonly used microsatellites from 180 T. infestans samples collected from a sampled transect in the city of Arequipa, Peru, in 2007 and 2011. We assessed the clustering of subpopulations and the effect of distance, sampling year, and city block location on genetic distance among pairs of insects. Despite evidence of genetic similarity, the majority of city blocks are characterized by one dominant insect genotype, suggesting the existence of barriers to dispersal. Our analyses show that streets represent an important barrier to the colonization and dispersion of T. infestans in Arequipa. The genetic data describe a T. infestans infestation histor...

恰加斯病（Chagas disease）是一种在拉丁美洲地方流行的虫媒传染病。骚扰锥蝽（Triatoma infestans）作为该疾病的常见传播媒介，近年其分布范围已扩张至拉丁美洲快速发展的城市中。本研究旨在识别影响城市环境中骚扰锥蝽定殖与扩散的环境特征。研究人员于2007年与2011年，从秘鲁阿雷基帕市的样带中采集了180份骚扰锥蝽样本，并对其中13个常用微卫星（microsatellites）位点进行了扩增。本研究评估了亚种群的聚类情况，以及距离、采样年份与街区位置对昆虫个体间遗传距离的影响。尽管存在遗传相似性的相关证据，但大多数街区均以单一优势昆虫基因型为特征，提示存在扩散障碍。分析结果表明，街道是阿雷基帕市骚扰锥蝽定殖与扩散的重要障碍。本遗传数据揭示了骚扰锥蝽的侵染历史……