Comprehensive approach adopted by biologists at the National University of Singapore improves the accuracy of mosquito vector surveillance

A two-pronged comprehensive approach developed by biologists at the National University of Singapore improves the accuracy of mosquito vector surveillance

Singapore, August 20, 2021-A research team at the National University of Singapore (NUS), led by Assistant Professor Nalini Puniamoorthy in the Department of Biological Sciences, has developed an integrated method that improves the accuracy of mosquito monitoring and management

Many vector-borne diseases are transmitted by blood-sucking flies, such as mosquitoes

To solve this problem, the researchers adopted an integrated approach, including a two-pronged strategy to improve sampling accuracy by including mosquito larvae, and the use of short DNA sequences generated by the next generation sequencing (NGS) high-tech platform (Called mini barcodes) for species identification

These findings were published in the "Journal of Applied Ecology" on August 5, 2021

Reduce error cascade by improving data accuracy

Traditional estimates of mosquito diversity are usually based on trapping methods for adult females of host species

Sampling of mosquito larvae in different field locations in Singapore resulted in an estimated 38% increase in overall diversity compared to samples containing only adult data

Using traditional monitoring methods based on external characteristics to identify mosquitoes is also challenging because of the physical similarities between different species and the differences within species

Sailing on the fragmented land

"Singapore’s rapid urbanization and land use changes have resulted in highly fragmented landscapes, increasing the contact area between forests and densely populated urban spaces

She and her team plan to study how diseases are spread by mosquitoes by observing the reproductive characteristics of these species

The researchers also plan to conduct further research to expand the ability of species identification using integrated methods of DNA barcodes and industrial applications

Original reference:

DOI 10.

Morphology and mini-barcodes: The inclusion of larval sampling and NGS-based barcoding improves robustness of ecological analyses of mosquito communities