Larvicidal efficacy of crude and fractionated extracts of Dracaena loureiri Gagnep against Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Culex quinquefasciatus, and Anopheles minimus mosquito vectors

Objective:To evaluate the larvicidal efficacy of crude and fractionated extracts of Dracaena loureiri endocarp against Aedes aegypti,Aedes albopictus,Culex quinquefasciatus,and Anopheles minimus mosquitos.Methods:Larvicidal activity was tested according to World Health Organization standard protocol.The third-stage larvae of each mosquito species were exposed to various concentrations of Dracaena loureiri crude extract and six groups of Dracaena loureiri fractionated extracts(RC-DT 009-014).Larval mortality rates were observed after 24 h and48 h of exposure.Then,a computerized probit analysis of the mortality data was performed to determine lethal concentration 50(LC_(50))and lethal concentration 90 values.Results:Anopheles minimus larvae(24-h LC_(50)77.88 mg/L)had the highest susceptibility to crude extract,whereas others(Aedes aegypti,24-h LC_(50)224.73 mg/L;Aedes albopictus,24-h LC_(50)261.75 mg/L;and Culex quinquefasciatus,24-h LC_(50)282.86 mg/L)were significantly less susceptible.The most effective groups of fractionated extracts were RC-DT 012 and RC-DT 013.The mosquito species most susceptible to fractionated extracts was Culex quinquefasciatus,with 24-h LC_(50)values of 0.66 and 0.94 mg/L for RC-DT 012 and RC-DT 013,respectively.Conclusions:The larvicidal activity of fractionated extracts is more effective than that of crude extract against all tested mosquito species.For the most effective alternative larvicide,purification and a phytochemical constituent analysis must be performed.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Anopheles minimus （Diptera： Culicidae） and the phylogenetics of known Anopheles mitogenomes

Anopheles minimus is an important vector of human malaria in southern China and Southeast Asia. The phylogenetics of mosquitoes has not been well resolved, and the mitochondrial genome （mtgenome） has proven to be an important marker in the study of evolutionary biology. In this study, the complete mtgenome of An. minimus was sequenced for the first time. It is 15 395 bp long and encodes 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes （PCGs）, 22 transfer RNAs （tRNAs）, two ribosomal RNAs （rRNAs） and a non-coding region. The gene organization is consistent with those of known Anopheles mtgenomes. The mtgenome performs a clear bias in nucleotide composition with a positive AT-skew and a negative GC-skew. All 13 PCGs prefer to use the codon UUA （Leu）, ATN as initiation codon but cytochrome-oxidase subunit 1 （COI） and ND5, with TCG and GTG, and TAA as termination codon, but COI, COII, COIII and ND4, all with the incomplete T. tRNAs have the typical clover-leaf structure, but tRNAser^a~N） is consistent with known Anopheles mtgenomes. The control region includes a conserved T-stretch and a （TA）n stretch, and has the highest A＋T content at 93.1%. The phylogenetics of An. minimus with 18 other Anopheles species was constructed by maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference, based on concatenated PCG sequences. The subgenera, Cellia and Anopheles, and Nyssorhynchus and Kerteszia have mutually close relationships, respectively. The Punctulatus group and Leueosphyrus group of Neomyzomyia Series, and the Albitarsis group of Albitarsis Series were suggested to be monophyletic. The monophyletic status of the subgenera, Cellia, Anopheles, Nyssorhynchus and Kerteszia need to be further elucidated.