ABSTRACT
One strategy for the control of malaria and other vector-borne diseases relies on the ambitious goal of depleting natural vector populations’ ability to transmit the pathogen through the introduction and spread of an engineered genetic construct. In this chapter, we assess whether the data accumulated so far on the population genetic structure of Anopheles gambiae, the major human malaria vector in Africa and the one stud ied most extensively, can be used to predict the spread of such genetic construct within and between wild populations. We conclude that available data offer good qualitative description of An. gambiae population structure, but do not provide the necessary information on the processes shaping this structure. We explore biological and methodological issues that pre vented derivation of quantitative descriptions of these processes, focusing on the estimation of the effective population size and gene flow between populations. We discuss plans for bridging the gap between our present knowledge and where we should be, and oudine a protocol for the direct estimation of relevant population genetics parameters and quantita tive assessment of their interaction through a field population perturbation study. Finally, the epidemiological importance of other vector species in sustaining malaria transmission is highlighted as an additional roadblock that needs to be considered as part of any compre hensive vector control strategy designed to substantially lower the burden of malaria that overwhelms Africa.
