RESUMO
Background: As Anopheles funestus is one of the principal Afro-tropical malaria vectors; a more complete understanding of its population structure is desirable. In West and Central Africa; An. funestus population structure is complicated by the coexistence of two assortatively mating chromosomal forms. Effective population size (Ne) is a key parameter in understanding patterns and levels of intraspecific variation; as it reflects the role of genetic drift. Here; Ne was estimated from both chromosomal forms; Kiribina and Folonzo; in Burkina Faso. Methods: Short-term Ne was estimated by evaluating variation at 16 microsatellite loci across temporal samples collected annually from 2000-2002. Estimates were based on standardized variance in allele frequencies or a maximum likelihood method. Long-term Ne was estimated from genetic diversity estimates using mtDNA sequences and microsatellites. Results: For both forms; short-term and long-term Ne estimates were on the order of 103 and 105; respectively. Long-term Ne estimates were larger when based on loci from chromosome 3R (both inside and outside of inversions) than loci outside of this arm. Conclusion: Ne values indicate that An. funestus is not subject to seasonal bottlenecks. Though not statistically different because of large and overlapping confidence intervals; short-term Ne estimates were consistently smaller for Kiribina than Folonzo; possibly due to exploitation of different breeding sites: permanent for Folonzo and intermittent for Kiribina. The higher long-term Ne estimates on 3R; the arm carrying the two inversions mainly responsible for defining the chromosomal forms; give natural selection broader scope and merit further study