CEBR1-07
Development and Production of Molecular Identification kits for Monitoring of Mosquitoes Vectors in Open Fields.
Researches:
Prof. Abdulaziz Al-Khedhairy
Dr. Ashraf M Ahmed
ABSTRACT:
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), there are different types of mosquitoes transmitting different types of life-threatening disease, for example, malaria that is transmitted by Anopheles arabiensis in the southern regions, dengue fever that is transmitted by Aedes aegypti in the western regions and Rift Valley fever that is transmitted by Aedes caspeus and other Culex species in different regions of the Kingdom. Hence, the Saudi Government is currently supporting great efforts to control these diseases and their transmitting mosquito vectors.
In support of these governmental efforts, we are presenting this research project that aims at establishing a reliable and accurate molecular kit(s) that can be used for accurately identifying different mosquito species. Thus, as an alternative to the old routine morphological identification, which has serious disadvantages in terms of mosquito identification, real-time PCR will be utilized as a molecular method for re-identifying mosquito vectors in the Saudi fauna (Eastern Province). This will help specialists to molecularly re-categorize the different mosquito species throughout the KSA as well as easily monitoring and predicting, in advance, the emergence of mosquito-borne diseases in such way that alert the relevant authorities to implement the right control program against the right mosquito vector for preventing the spread of such diseases, and consequently, limiting the spread of the disease throughout the country via the rightly timed-control measures.
OBJECTIVES:
This project aims to
- To explore the genetic diversity of the mosquito groups,
- To produce molecular identification kits for mosquito species transmitting diseases in KSA (Eastern Province) and
- To validate mosquito molecular identification kits for a reliable use in the field.