Anopheles funestus is one of the primary vectors of Plasmodium falciparum malaria across sub-Saharan Africa. Within the funestus group, multiple sibling species exist that differ significantly in their vectorial capacity and which are morphologically almost indistinguishable.

Accurate species identification from field-collected mosquitoes is therefore essential for targeted vector control. A 2020 paper in Parasites & Vectors (Anopheles funestus population structure, Uganda and southern Africa) used prepGEM Insect chemistry to extract genomic DNA from single mosquito legs before microsatellite genotyping.

The protocol: one leg per mosquito, homogenised with prepGEM Insect reagents, 15 minutes at 75°C, 5 minutes at 95°C. A 10 µl genomic DNA eluate per sample, ready for PCR.

At the scale of entomological surveillance hundreds of individual insects processed from multiple field sites. Therefore, the simplicity and speed of single-tube extraction without further purification is operationally significant. It is the kind of workflow that can be trained quickly, run reliably in non-specialist settings, and scaled without expensive equipment.

Source: Parasites & Vectors 13:99 (2020)