Chromosomal Inversions and Their Potential Impact on the Evolution of Arboviral Vector <i>Aedes aegypti</i>

Chromosomal inversions play a crucial role in evolution and have been found to regulate epidemiologically significant traits in malaria mosquitoes. However, they have not been characterized in Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of arboviruses, due to the poor structure of its polytene chromosomes. The Hi-C proximity ligation approach was used to identify chromosomal inversions in 25 strains of A. aegypti obtained from its worldwide distribution and in one strain of Aedes mascarensis. The study identified 21 multimegabase polymorphic inversions ranging in size from 5 to 55 Mbp. Inversions were more abundant in African than in non-African strains, 15 versus 3 inversions, with the highest number observed in West Africa. All inversions were grouped into two geographic clusters of African or non-African origin, suggesting their association with A. aegypti subspecies. Inversions were unevenly distributed along chromosomal arms, with the highest number found in the 1q and 3p arms homologous to the inversion-rich 2R chromosomal arm in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Direct comparison of inversions between A. aegypti and An. gambiae revealed significant overlap in their genomic locations. This finding may explain the parallel evolution of the two species under similar environmental conditions. Some of the inversions colocalized with chemoreceptor genes and quantitative trait loci associated with pathogen infection, suggesting their potential role in host preference and disease transmission. Our study revealed the large pool of structural variations in the A. aegypti genome and provides the foundation for future studies of their impact on the biology of this important arboviral vector.

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Publication Details

Journal
Genome Biology and Evolution
Published
2025-06-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf118
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Mosquito-borne diseases and control
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.76

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article

Chromosomal Inversions and Their Potential Impact on the Evolution of Arboviral Vector Aedes aegypti

Zhijian Tu, Э. М. Баричева, Andrey A. Yurchenko, Cassandra González‐Acosta et al.
2 citations
Genome Biology and Evolution
Mosquito-borne diseases and control
3.76
article

Chromosomal Inversions and Their Potential Impact on the Evolution of Arboviral Vector Aedes aegypti

Zhijian Tu, Э. М. Баричева, Andrey A. Yurchenko, Cassandra González‐Acosta, Barry W. Alto, Diégo Ayala, Varvara Lukyanchikova, Andrea Gloria‐Soria, Maria V. Sharakhova, Noah H. Rose, Igor V. Sharakhov, Ogechukwu B. Aribodor, Ilya I. Brusentsov, Joel Lutomiah, Atashi Sharma, Yifan Feng, Athanase Badolo, Dmitriy A. Karagodin, Carolyn S. McBride, Jiangtao Liang, Massamba Sylla, Jeffrey R. Powell, W A Nazni, William C. Black
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Chromosomal inversions play a crucial role in evolution and have been found to regulate epidemiologically significant traits in malaria mosquitoes. However, they have not been characterized in Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of arboviruses, due to the poor structure of its polytene chromosomes. The Hi-C proximity ligation approach was used to identify chromosomal inversions in 25 strains of A. aegypti obtained from its worldwide distribution and in one strain of Aedes mascarensis. The study identified 21 multimegabase polymorphic inversions ranging in size from 5 to 55 Mbp. Inversions were more abundant in African than in non-African strains, 15 versus 3 inversions, with the highest number observed in West Africa. All inversions were grouped into two geographic clusters of African or non-African origin, suggesting their association with A. aegypti subspecies. Inversions were unevenly distributed along chromosomal arms, with the highest number found in the 1q and 3p arms homologous to the inversion-rich 2R chromosomal arm in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Direct comparison of inversions between A. aegypti and An. gambiae revealed significant overlap in their genomic locations. This finding may explain the parallel evolution of the two species under similar environmental conditions. Some of the inversions colocalized with chemoreceptor genes and quantitative trait loci associated with pathogen infection, suggesting their potential role in host preference and disease transmission. Our study revealed the large pool of structural variations in the A. aegypti genome and provides the foundation for future studies of their impact on the biology of this important arboviral vector.

Genome Biology and EvolutionVol. 17(7)
Ministry of Health (MY), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo (BF), Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (GT), National Research Tomsk State University (RU), Université de Montpellier (FR), Princeton University (US), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NG), Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (US), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KE), Yale University (US), University of California San Diego (US), Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Écologie, Génétique, Évolution et Contrôle (FR), Université du Sine Saloum El-Hâdj Ibrahima NIASS (SN), Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (GA), Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (US), Jackson Laboratory (US), Institute of Cytology and Genetics (RU), Centro Nacional de Enfermedades Tropicales (BO), Institut Pasteur de Madagascar (MG), Institute for Sustainable Development (ET), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Virginia Tech (US), Colorado State University (US)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Mosquito-borne diseases and control
3.76
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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