Transcriptomics and Population Genetics of Mosquito Resistance to Pyrethroids

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 500 million clinical cases of malaria and about one million deaths per year. The majority of malaria morbidity and mortality occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria prevention relies primarily on insecticide-based vector control. The same classes of insecticide used in vector control strategies also are used as pesticides for agricultural purposes. The extensive and multifaceted use of insecticides has led to the emergence and rapid spread of resistance.

A key element in resistance management is the identification of resistance mechanisms, which would allow for the development of more reliable resistance monitoring tools and resistance management strategies.

The understanding of the molecular mechanisms of insecticide resistance in Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, the most important malaria vector in sub-Saharan Africa, has progressed in association with technological advancement. In particular, gene amplification-based techniques have allowed the identification of point mutations in coding regions of the para-type sodium channel gene that causes reduced sensitivity of the encoded protein to pyrethroid insecticides.

Microarray techniques have taken analyses of insecticide resistance mechanisms to genome-wide expression profiling. However, microarrays can only determine the relative transcription levels of the genes spotted on the array; genes not represented in the array will be missed, and sequence variation of resistance-related genes will not be examined.

High-throughput genome-wide RNA profiling based on RNA-seq technology is emerging as an improved method for expression studies. The whole transcriptome of mosquitoes is sampled by RNA-seq, and more precise measurement of transcription levels can be obtained. Furthermore, this new technique makes it possible to quantitatively measure known and novel isoforms and detect molecular polymorphisms in resistance-related transcripts.

NIH Reporter - Project details

Basic Science
Insecticide Resistance

Mar 2012 — Feb 2015

$422,000

Kenya
United States