Jiabao Xu, Mariangela Bonizzoni, Daibin Zhong, Guofa Zhou, Songwu Cai, Yiji Li, Xiaoming Wang, Eugenia Lo, Rebecca Lee, Roger Sheen, Jinhua Duan, Guiyun Yan*, Xiao-Guang Chen*

Author Summary

Aedes albopictus is a major dengue and Chikungunya vector and highly invasive. In the absence of effective treatment for the arbovirus infections, vector control is the only viable option. Pyrethroids are the most widely used insecticide for vector control programs due to low mammalian toxicity and rapid knockdown action. Extensive and prolonged use of pyrethroids imposes selection pressure on mosquito populations and eventually increases the potential of resistance. Monitoring pyrethroid resistance is essential to effective man agement of resistance. The voltage-gated sodium channel gene is the target site of pyrethroids, and mutations in this gene result in knockdown resistance (kdr). Previous studies reported various mutations in the VGSC gene, but the spatial distribution of kdr mutations in Aedes albopictus has not been systematically examined, and the association between kdr mutation and resistance has not been established. In the present study, we examined kdr mutation distribution in 12 populations from Asia, Africa, America and Europe. We found two novel and abundant kdr mutations, and established significant positive association between kdr mutations with deltamethrin resistance. This finding raised the possibility that kdr mutation may be a viable biomarker for pyrethroid resistance surveillance in Ae. albopictus. The patchy distribution of kdr mutations in Ae. albopictus mosquitoes calls for developing global surveillance plan for pyrethroid resistance and developing counter measures to mitigate the spread of resistance.

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2016, 10:e0004696

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004696