Molecular phylogeography of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes in central Bangladesh

Mosquitoes in the Culex pipiens complex are a major vector of numerous parasitic and arboviral diseases. Here we report the phylogeography of a prevalent Culex mosquito, Cx. quinquefasciatus, from three locations in Bangladesh: Dhaka, Savar and Mymensingh. Sequence analysis of the genes encoding mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit II, nuclear elongation factor-1 alpha, and acetylcholinesterase-2 revealed the lack of a population genetic structure among the three locations. Moreover, the highly divergent ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 suggests that this locus has not evolved in concert. The results further show evidence of historical introgression of internal transcribed spacer 2 from Cx. pipiens to Cx. quinquefasciatus of Bangladesh, and that the introgression occurred before Cx. quinquefasciatus had dispersed within this region. The study also reveals historical population expansion in this region, followed by a post-expansion Wolbachia sweep.