The mosquito Anopheles gambiae is the most proficient malaria vector in Africa, in part, due to its close relation to humans, who provide blood meals, shelters and breeding sites. During our fieldwork in Gabon, we found permanent An. gambiae populations inhabiting remote sylvatic locations, far away from any human activity or presence. Our proposal aims at understanding why we found the major malaria mosquito away from anthropic habitats and if our discovery is associated with a process of local adaptation (i.e., recently derived genetic changes in its ecology, feeding and biting behavior) or whether it represents an ancestral wild taxon. Through these objectives and based on an outstanding international consortium, we will elucidate the role of natural areas as refuges and host choice plasticity in An. gambiae. Our findings could lead to the development of new genetic strategies for vector control based in host feeding evolution.

Project funding: ANR