Development of high-quality reference genomes for Anopheles squamosus and An. cydippis

项目摘要 尽管为尽量减少疟疾在南部非洲的影响作出了巨大努力，但疟疾仍未被消灭 从这个地区。许多研究不足的蚊子媒介物种栖息在这一地区， 疟疾在这个消灭前的地区传播。鳞状按蚊是最多被捕获的 赞比亚南部的蚊子种类。该物种也经常感染恶性疟原虫， 人类疟疾的病原体，导致假设它是疟疾传播的关键媒介， 赞比亚.检验这一假说和研究安氏杆菌的一个主要障碍。鳞片是缺乏遗传 信息.除了这个障碍，安。squamosus与An难以区分。cydippis在成虫阶段， 使得难以建立基因型与对寄生虫传播重要的表型之间的联系， 病媒控制，包括病媒能力、杀虫剂抗药性和宿主偏好。这项研究涉及 这两个关键的障碍（1）生产高质量的基因组的安。squamosus和An. cydippis，（2） 鉴定An.（3）制作An.squamosus的基因注释。 鳞片状基因组An.鳞片将有助于识别物种特异性标记 用于诊断分析，可以用来区分这种蚊子与其他蚊子。我们的项目将 促进了对An.鳞状细胞和其他研究不足的疟疾病媒，以及它们对 疟疾传播。新的基因组资源。鳞片可以用来研究蚊子 媒介行为，并制定有效的控制策略， 设置.

Project Summary Despite the tremendous effort to minimize the impacts of malaria in southern Africa, it has yet to be eliminated from this region. Many understudied mosquito vector species inhabit this area and may be perpetuating malaria transmission in this pre-elimination zone. Anopheles squamosus is one of the most abundantly caught mosquito species in southern Zambia. This species is also frequently infected with Plasmodium falciparum, a causal agent of human malaria, leading to the hypothesis that it is a critical vector of malaria transmission in Zambia. A major barrier of testing this hypothesis and studying An. squamosus is the lack of genetic information. In addition to this barrier, An. squamosus is indistinguishable from An. cydippis in the adult stage, making it difficult to establish links between genotypes to phenotypes important for parasite transmission and vector control, including vector competence, insecticide resistance, and host preference. This study addresses these two key barriers by (1) producing high-quality genomes of An. squamosus and An. cydippis, (2) identifying genetic polymorphisms within An. squamosus, and (3) producing gene annotation of An. squamosus genome. The genome of An. squamosus will facilitate the identification of species-specific markers for a diagnostic assay that can be used to distinguish this species from other mosquitoes. Our project will catalyze the study of An. squamosus and other understudied malaria vectors, as well as their impacts on malaria transmission. The new genomic resources for An. squamosus can be leveraged for studying mosquito vector behavior and devise effective control strategies of understudied malaria vectors in pre-elimination settings.