Dense residential areas promote gene flow in dengue vector mosquito Aedes albopictus

Huiqing Yeo; Hui Zhen Tan; Qian Tang; Tyrone Ren Hao Tan; Nalini Puniamoorthy; Frank E Rheindt

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107577

Dense residential areas promote gene flow in dengue vector mosquito Aedes albopictus

iScience. 2023 Aug 9;26(9):107577. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107577. eCollection 2023 Sep 15.

Authors

Huiqing Yeo¹, Hui Zhen Tan¹, Qian Tang¹, Tyrone Ren Hao Tan¹, Nalini Puniamoorthy¹, Frank E Rheindt¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117558, Singapore.

Abstract

Aedes albopictus is a successful disease vector due to its ability to survive in a wide range of habitats. Despite its ubiquity and impact on public health, little is known about its differential gene flow capabilities across different city habitats. We obtained a comprehensive dataset of >27,000 genome-wide DNA markers across 105 wild-caught Ae. albopictus individuals from Singapore, a dengue-endemic tropical city with heterogeneous landscapes from densely populated urban areas to forests. Despite Singapore's challenging small-scale heterogeneity, our landscape-genomic approach indicated that dense urban areas are characterized by higher Aedes gene flow rates than managed parks and forests. We documented the incidence of Wolbachia infections of Ae. albopictus involving two strains (wAlbA and wAlbB). Our results dispel the misconception that substantial dispersal of Ae. albopictus is limited to urban greenery, with wide implications for vector management and critical insights into urban planning strategies to combat dengue transmission.

Keywords: Disease; Genomics; Urban planning.