RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The genomic basis of domestic colonisation and dispersal in Chagas disease vectors
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.04.27.441467
DO 10.1101/2021.04.27.441467
A1 Luis E Hernandez-Castro
A1 Anita G Villacís
A1 Arne Jacobs
A1 Bachar Cheaib
A1 Casey C Day
A1 Sofía Ocaña-Mayorga
A1 Cesar A Yumiseva
A1 Antonella Bacigalupo
A1 Björn Andersson
A1 Louise Matthews
A1 Erin L Landguth
A1 Jaime A Costales
A1 Martin S Llewellyn
A1 Mario J Grijalva
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/27/2021.04.27.441467.abstract
AB The biology of vector adaptation to the human habitat remains poorly understood for many arthropod-borne diseases but underpins effective and sustainable disease control. We adopted a landscape genomics approach to investigate gene flow, signatures of local adaptation, and drivers of population structure among multiple linked wild and domestic population pairs in Rhodnius ecuadoriensis, an important vector of Chagas Disease. Evidence of high triatomine gene flow (FST) between wild and domestic ecotopes at sites throughout the study area indicate insecticide-based control will be hindered by constant re-infestation of houses. Genome scans revealed genetic loci with strong signal of local adaptation to the domestic setting, which we mapped to annotated regions in the Rhodnius prolixus genome. Our landscape genomic mixed effects models showed Rhodnius ecuadoriensis population structure and connectivity is driven by landscape elevation at a regional scale. Our ecologically- and spatially-explicit vector dispersal model enables targeted vector control and recommends spatially discrete, periodic interventions to local authorities as more efficacious than current, haphazard approaches. In tandem, evidence for parallel genomic adaptation to colonisation of the domestic environment at multiple sites sheds new light on the evolutionary basis of adaptation to the human host in arthropod vectors.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.