Zoology Department Seminar: Population genomics in the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus over the past century

Speaker: Petra Korlevic, Sanger Institute

Abstract: Anopheles funestus is one of the main major vectors for human malaria in Africa, but the species has so far been understudied compared to other Anophelines. This talk aims to summarize the recent publication by Boddé et al. “Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus”. Within a dataset of about 800 present-day and historic individuals we look for population structures including possible new ecotypes, introduce methods for tracking inversions from short read data, and look for known and potentially new selection signals, some of which appeared much later than expected based on our consistent insecticide use from the 1950s.

The Zoology Departmental Seminar Series runs weekly and covers recent research on a wide variety of topics from evolutionary genetics through behavioural ecology to ecology and natural history.  Everyone in Zoology is invited, including Part II undergraduate zoologists who are particularly encouraged to attend. Please click here for a list of all of this term's seminars.