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Species delimitation and mitonuclear discordance within a species complex of biting midges.

ABSTRACT: The inability to distinguish between species can be a serious problem in groups responsible for pathogen transmission. Culicoides biting midges transmit many pathogenic agents infecting wildlife and livestock. In North America, the C. variipennis species complex contains three currently recognized species, only one of which is a known vector, but limited species-specific characters have hindered vector surveillance. Here, genomic data were used to investigate population structure and genetic differentiation within this species complex. Single nucleotide polymorphism data were generated for 206 individuals originating from 17 locations throughout the United States and Canada. Clustering analyses suggest the occurrence of two additional cryptic species within this complex. All five species were significantly differentiated in both sympatry and allopatry. Evidence of hybridization was detected in three different species pairings indicating incomplete reproductive isolation. Additionally, COI sequences were used to identify the hybrid parentage of these individuals, which illuminated discordance between the divergence of the mitochondrial and nuclear datasets.

SUBMITTER: Shults P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8810881 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Species delimitation and mitonuclear discordance within a species complex of biting midges.

Shults Phillip P Hopken Matthew M Eyer Pierre-Andre PA Blumenfeld Alexander A Mateos Mariana M Cohnstaedt Lee W LW Vargo Edward L EL

Scientific reports 20220202 1

The inability to distinguish between species can be a serious problem in groups responsible for pathogen transmission. Culicoides biting midges transmit many pathogenic agents infecting wildlife and livestock. In North America, the C. variipennis species complex contains three currently recognized species, only one of which is a known vector, but limited species-specific characters have hindered vector surveillance. Here, genomic data were used to investigate population structure and genetic dif ...[more]

PMID: 35110675

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Project description:Historical events of population fragmentation, expansion and admixture over geological time may result in complex patterns of reproductive isolation and may explain why, for some taxa, the study of mitochondrial (mt) and nuclear (nu) genetic data results in discordant evolutionary patterns. Complex patterns of taxonomic diversity were recently revealed in earthworms for which distribution is largely the result of paleogeographical events. Here, we investigated reproductive isolation patterns in a complex of cryptic species of earthworms in which discordant patterns between mt and nu genetic lineages were previously revealed, the Allolobophora chlorotica aggregate. Using four nu microsatellite markers and a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I mt gene, we carried out a parentage analysis to investigate the mating patterns (i) between individuals belonging to two divergent mt lineages that cannot be distinguished with nu markers and (ii) between individuals belonging to lineages that are differentiated both at the mt and nu levels. Amongst the 157 field-collected individuals, 66 adults were used in cross-breeding experiments to form 22 trios based on their assignment to a mt lineage, and 453 obtained juveniles were genotyped. We showed that adults that mated with both their potential mates in the trio produced significantly more juveniles. In crosses between lineages that diverged exclusively at the mt level, a sex-specific pattern of reproduction characteristic to each lineage was observed, suggesting a possible conflict of interest concerning the use of male/female function between mating partners. In crosses between lineages that diverged both at the mt and nu levels, a high production of cocoons was counterbalanced by a low hatching rate, suggesting a post-zygotic reproductive isolation. Different degrees of reproductive isolation, from differential sex allocation to post-zygotic isolation, were thus revealed. Lineages appear to be at different stages in the speciation process, which likely explain the observed opposite patterns of mitonuclear congruence.

Project description:BackgroundInvestigations of Culicoides fauna, including inventories, were carried out in Morocco at different periods after the country had faced major bluetongue and African horse sickness outbreaks. However, no comprehensive reference publication has provided a clear overview of the Culicoides species diversity. This study reviewed available data on Culicoides biting midge species in Morocco from 1968 to 2015 (published and grey literature in French and English) in order to revise the current checklist, in light of state of the art taxonomic and systematic knowledge, and confirmed the checklist with morphological and molecular identifications of specimens collected from the region of Rabat.MethodsLiterature related to Culicoides collections in Morocco was collated. Authors were contacted to obtain raw data and additional information for the collections. Fresh Culicoides material was collected and examined from two sites around Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Each collected individual was examined and morphologically identified, if possible, to the species level. In addition, molecular identification was performed to separate closely related species, to confirm difficult morphological identifications and to confirm new species records.ResultsA total of 6121 individuals of Culicoides spp. were collected and analyzed and at least 17 species were identified: C. cataneii/C. gejgelensis, C. circumscriptus, C. fagineus, C. festivipennis, C. imicola, C. jumineri, C. kingi, C. longipennis, C. montanus, C. newsteadi, C. obsoletus, C. paolae, C. parotti, C. puncticollis, C. sahariensis, C. scoticus and C. subfagineus. Seven species were confirmed using phylogenetic analyses. Two new species records for Morocco are reported: C. paolae and C. subfagineus.ConclusionsThe Moroccan fauna of Culicoides now includes 54 valid species. Further work would certainly increase this total, as one of the clades we identified was not affiliated to any described and valid species.

Project description:Culicoides biting midges (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) are vectors of arboviruses that cause significant economic and welfare impact. Local-scale spread of Culicoides-borne arboviruses is largely determined by the between-farm movement of infected Culicoides.Study of the dispersal behaviour of Culicoides by capture-mark-recapture (CMR) is problematic due to the likelihood of mortality and changes in behaviour upon capture caused by the small size and fragility of these insects, evidenced by low recapture rates. To counter the problem of using CMR with Culicoides, this study utilised an ovalbumin immunomarking technique to quantify the within- and between-farm dispersal of Culicoides in southern England.Both within- and between-farm dispersal of Culicoides was observed. Of the 9058 Culicoides collected over 22 nights of trapping, 600 ovalbumin-positive Culicoides, of 12 species including those implicated as arbovirus vectors, were collected with a maximum dispersal distance of 3125 m.This study provides the first species-level data on the between-farm dispersal of potential bluetongue, Schmallenberg and African horse sickness virus vectors in northern Europe. High-resolution meteorological data determined upwind and downwind flight by Culicoides had occurred. Cumulative collection and meteorological data suggest 15·6% of flights over 1 km were upwind of the treatment area and 84·4% downwind. Synthesis and applications. The use of immunomarking eliminates the potential adverse effects on survival and behaviour of insect collection prior to marking, substantially improving the resolution and accuracy of estimates of the dispersal potential of small and delicate vector species such as Culicoides. Using this technique, quantification of the range of Culicoides dispersal with regard to meteorological conditions including wind direction will enable improved, data-driven modelling of the spread of Culicoides-borne arboviruses and will inform policy response to incursions and outbreaks.

Project description:Single-locus molecular barcoding is a useful method for identifying overlooked and undescribed biodiversity, providing the groundwork for further systematic study and taxonomic investigation. A variety of methods for delimiting species from barcoding libraries have been developed and applied, allowing for rapid estimates of species diversity in a broad range of taxa. However, tree-based and distance-based analyses can infer different group assignments, potentially over- or underestimating the number of putative species groups. Here, we explore diversity of mainland species of anole lizards from the Chortís Block biogeographical province of northern Central America using a DNA barcoding approach, generating and analyzing cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences for over 400 samples assignable to 33 of 38 (86.8%) native and one introduced mainland species. We subsequently tested the effects different models of nucleotide substitution, different species-delimitation algorithms, and reducing our dataset had on species delimitation estimates. We performed of two distance-based (ABGD, RESL) and three tree-based (bPTP, mPTP, GMYC) analyses on both the full dataset and a dataset consisting only of unique halotypes. From 34 nominal taxa, analyses of the full dataset recovered between 34 and 64 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), while analyses of the reduced dataset inferred between 36 and 59. Reassigning individuals to either mPTP-inferred or ABGD clustered (7.2% threshold) groups improved the detection of a barcoding gap across three different models of nucleotide substitution, removing overlap between intra- and interspecific distances. Our results highlight the underestimated diversity of mainland Chortís Block anoles, but the lack of congruence between analyses demonstrates the importance of considering multiple analytical methods when dealing with single-locus datasets. We recommend future studies consider the effects of different models of nucleotide substitution on proposed barcoding gaps, as well as the effect reducing a dataset to unique haplotypes may have on proposed diversity estimates.

Dataset Information

Species delimitation and mitonuclear discordance within a species complex of biting midges.

Publications

Species delimitation and mitonuclear discordance within a species complex of biting midges.

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