South Texas Is Home to High Diversity of Cytochrome Oxidase I Haplotypes Compared to Other Invasive Populations of Aedes aegypti.

Understanding population dynamics and genetics can be critical to understanding distribution, spread, and vectorial capacity of disease vectors. One well-studied disease vector, Aedes aegypti, has been the focus of research due to the wide range of diseases it vectors and the high transmission capabilities. We examined the genetic diversity of A. aegypti utilizing a large number of individual samples from a small geographic range, as opposed to previous studies that focus on a large range and small collection. Using the COI locus, we examined 107 mosquitoes from South Texas, with multiple haplotypes identified. We observed that the samples from South Texas have a unique distribution of haplotypes relative to several invasive global locations from North America, Central America, South America, and Asia. Population measurements suggest a recent population expansion in South Texas, with multiple rare alleles identified. Our intensive sampling strategy using a small geographic scale revealed high levels of diversity not found in non-East African countries and unique haplotypes. We hypothesize that expanding sampling size when studying genetic diversity could help inform movement of mosquitoes. In addition, increased haplotype diversity may be correlated with increased insecticide resistance and differing vector competence.