Abstract

PEREZ-DORIA, Alveiro  ; ELIAS BEJARANO, Eduar; SIERRA, Diana  and  VELEZ, Iván Darío. Molecular characters for the taxonomic determination of three species of Lutzomyia (Diptera: Psychodidae), potential Leishmania vectors found in the Aburrá valley, Colombia. Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent. [online]. 2008, vol.67, n.3-4, pp.99-108. ISSN 0373-5680.

To date, 143 species of Lutzomyia França are recorded in Colombia, but less than 7% is incriminated in the transmission of Leishmania spp. Alternative taxonomic characters are necessary to correctly identify the particular sand fly fauna in each Colombian region, and the separation of morphologically similar vector and non-vector species. In order to detect useful molecular characters for the taxonomic determination of three potential vectors of Leishmania present in the Valle de Aburrá, Colombia, the present work sequenced the 3' end of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene in Lutzomyia hartmanni (Fairchild and Hertig), L. columbiana (Ristorcelli and Van Ty), and L. tihuiliensis Le Pont, Torrez-Espejo and Dujardin. Polymorphic sites, pairwise genetic distances (p), and entropy were determined from the multiple alignment of the nucleotide sequences. Numbers of silent and non silent substitutions were calculated from the amino acid sequences deduced from the nucleotide sequences of the gene. In the multiple alignment of the cytochrome b nucleotide sequences from Lutzomyia hartmanni, L. columbiana and L. tihuiliensis, 83 polymorphic sites were detected. A total of 18 amino acid replacements were found in the partial nucleotide sequences of the protein. Genetic distances varied from 0,137 between L. tihuiliensis and L. columbiana, to 0,215 among L. columbiana and L. hartmanni. Nucleotide and amino acid sequence polymorphisms within the cytochrome b gene and protein, respectively, constitute molecular characters potentially useful for the taxonomic determination of these sand fly species.

Keywords : Psychodidae; Lutzomyia; Verrucarum; Helcocyrtomyia; Cytochrome b; Colombia.

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