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. 2012 Jun;12(6):514-25.
doi: 10.1089/vbz.2011.0859. Epub 2012 Mar 26.

Phylogeography and demographic history of Amblyomma variegatum (Fabricius) (Acari: Ixodidae), the tropical bont tick

Lorenza Beati  1 , Jaymin Patel, Helene Lucas-Williams, Hassane Adakal, Esther G Kanduma, Enala Tembo-Mwase, Rosina Krecek, James W Mertins, Jeffery T Alfred, Susyn Kelly, Patrick Kelly
Affiliations

Phylogeography and demographic history of Amblyomma variegatum (Fabricius) (Acari: Ixodidae), the tropical bont tick

Lorenza Beati et al. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

The genetic diversity of Amblyomma variegatum (Fabricius) from four Caribbean islands and five African countries was compared by analyzing the sequences of three gene fragments, two mitochondrial (12SrDNA and D-Loop-DL), and one nuclear (intergenic transcribed spacer 2 [ITS2]). Genetic variability of the ITS2 DNA fragment consisted of only uninformative single nucleotide mutations, and therefore this gene was excluded from further analyses. Mitochondrial gene divergences among African populations and between Caribbean and African populations were very low. Nevertheless, the data suggest that A. variegatum is divided into distinct East and West African groups, the western group including all Caribbean samples. Phylogenetic analyses of the 12SrDNA and DL gene sequences showed that the West African A. variegatum clustered in a well-supported monophyletic clade, distinct from eastern paraphyletic lineages. Sequences of A. variegatum from the Caribbean were embedded in the West African clade, which supports the known West African historical origin for these ticks.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Unrooted minimum spanning network with a 95% confidence interval of the 12SrDNA haplotypes (circles) in studied populations of Amblyomma variegatum. Lines represent single mutations and dots represent unsampled intermediate haplotypes. Origins of the haplotypes and their numbers (in parentheses) are designated as follows: MO, Montserrat; DO, Dominica; VI, U.S. Virgin Islands; MA, Mali; BF, Burkina Faso; SK, St. Kitts; KE, Kenya; ET, Ethiopia; ZA, Zambia. Letters in capital italics cross-reference the haplotypes as listed in Table 2.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Unrooted minimum spanning network with a 95% confidence interval of the D-Loop haplotypes (circles) in studied populations of Amblyomma variegatum. Lines represent single mutations and dots represent unsampled intermediate haplotypes. Origins of the haplotypes and their numbers (in parentheses) are designated as follows: MO, Montserrat; DO, Dominica; VI, U.S. Virgin Islands; MA, Mali; BF, Burkina Faso; SK, St. Kitts; KE, Kenya; ET, Ethiopia; ZA, Zambia. Roman numerals cross-reference the haplotypes as listed in Table 3.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Phylogenetic trees inferred by Bayesian analysis of the 12SrDNA (A), and the D-Loop (B) gene fragments in studied populations of Amblyomma variegatum. Numbers above the branches represent posterior probabilities and (in italics) bootstrap values obtained by maximum parsimony analysis. Origins of the haplotypes and their numbers (in parentheses) are designated as follows: MO, Montserrat; DO, Dominica; VI, U.S. Virgin Islands; MA, Mali; BF, Burkina Faso; SK, St. Kitts; KE, Kenya; ET, Ethiopia; ZA, Zambia. Letters in capital italics for 12SrDNA and roman numerals for DL cross-reference the haplotypes as listed in Tables 2 and 3, respectively.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
Total evidence phylogenetic tree inferred by Bayesian analysis of the concatenated 12SrDNA and D-Loop sequences in studied populations of Amblyomma variegatum. Numbers above the branches represent posterior probabilities inferred by Bayesian analysis, and (in italics) bootstrap values obtained by maximum parsimony analysis. Origins of the haplotypes and their numbers (in parentheses) are designated as follows: MO, Montserrat; DO, Dominica; VI, U.S. Virgin Islands; MA, Mali; BF, Burkina Faso; SK, St. Kitts; KE, Kenya; ET, Ethiopia; ZA, Zambia.
FIG. 5.
FIG. 5.
Mismatch distributions of the observed variation in 12SrDNA haplotypes of studied Amblyomma variegatum populations compared to the theoretical distributions expected for population expansion in (A) the Caribbean, (B) East Africa, (C) West Africa, and (D) all samples combined.
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