Population Genetics as a Tool to Select Tsetse Control Strategies: Suppression or Eradication of Glossina palpalis gambiensis in the Niayes of Senegal

BACKGROUND: The Government of Senegal has initiated the “Projet de lutte contre les glossines dans les Niayes” to remove the trypanosomosis problem from this area in a sustainable way. Due to past failures to sustainably eradicate Glossina palpalis gambiensis from the Niayes area, controversies remain as to the best strategy implement, i.e. “eradication” versus “suppression.” To inform this debate, we used population genetics to measure genetic differentiation between G. palpalis gambiensis from the Niayes and those from the southern tsetse belt (Missira). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Three different markers (microsatellite DNA, mitochondrial CO1 DNA, and geometric morphometrics of the wings) were used on 153 individuals and revealed that the G. p. gambiensis populations of the Niayes were genetically isolated from the nearest proximate known population of Missira. The genetic differentiation measured between these two areas (θ = 0.12 using microsatellites) was equivalent to a between-taxa differentiation. We also demonstrated that within the Niayes, the population from Dakar – Hann was isolated from the others and had probably experienced a bottleneck. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The information presented in this paper leads to the recommendation that an eradication strategy for the Niayes populations is advisable. This kind of study may be repeated in other habitats and for other tsetse species to (i) help decision on appropriate tsetse control strategies and (ii) find other possible discontinuities in tsetse distribution.