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Comparative genomics

Insecticide resistance in mosquito vectors

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 20 May 2004

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 25 September 2003

Abstract

Resistance to insecticides among mosquitoes that act as vectors for malaria (Anopheles gambiae) and West Nile virus (Culex pipiens) emerged more than 25 years ago in Africa, America and Europe; this resistance is frequently due to a loss of sensitivity of the insect's acetylcholinesterase enzyme to organophosphates and carbamates1. Here we show that this insensitivity results from a single amino-acid substitution in the enzyme, which we found in ten highly resistant strains of C. pipiens from tropical (Africa and Caribbean) and temperate (Europe) areas, as well as in one resistant African strain of A. gambiae. Our identification of this mutation may pave the way for designing new insecticides.

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Figure 1: Residual acetylcholinesterase activity of susceptible (green squares) and resistant (black diamonds) mosquitoes assayed in homogenates and lysates from transfected S2 cells in the presence of increasing concentrations of the carbamate insecticide Propoxur.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution (UMR 5554), CC 065, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, 34095, France

    Mylène Weill, Arnaud Berthomieu, Claire Berticat, Nicole Pasteur & Michel Raymond

  2. Défenses Antivirales et Tumorales (UMR 5124), Montpellier, 34293, France

    Georges Lutfalla & Knud Mogensen

  3. Centre de Recherche en Biochimie des Macromolécules (UPR1086), CNRS, Montpellier, 34293, France

    Alexandre Philips & Philippe Fort

  4. IRD/LIN, BP 64501, Montpellier, 34394, France

    Fabrice Chandre

Authors
  1. Mylène Weill
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  2. Georges Lutfalla
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  3. Knud Mogensen
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  4. Fabrice Chandre
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  5. Arnaud Berthomieu
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  6. Claire Berticat
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  7. Nicole Pasteur
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  8. Alexandre Philips
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  9. Philippe Fort
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  10. Michel Raymond
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mylène Weill.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Weill, M., Lutfalla, G., Mogensen, K. et al. Insecticide resistance in mosquito vectors. Nature 423, 136–137 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/423136b

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