Two mosquito strains of Culex quinquefasciatus (Say), MAmCq(G0) and HAmCq(G0), were collected from Mobile and Huntsville, Alabama, respectively. MAmCq(G0) and HAmCq(G0) were further selected in the laboratory with permethrin for one and three generations, respectively. The levels of resistance to permethrin in MAmCq(G1) (after one-generation selection) and HAmCq(G3) (after three-generation selection) increased rapidly. Resistance to permethrin in MAmCq(G1) and HAmCq(G3) was partially suppressed by piperonyl butoxide (PBO), S,S,S-tributylphosphorotrithioate (DEF) and diethyl maleate (DEM), inhibitors of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, hydrolases and glutathione S-transferases (GST), respectively, suggesting these three enzyme families are important in conferring permethrin resistance in both strains. A substitution of leucine to phenylalanine (L to F) resulting from a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), termed the kdr mutation, in the para-homologous sodium channel gene has been reported as a very common mutation associated with pyrethroid resistance of insects. A 341-bp sodium channel gene fragment, where the kdr mutation resides, was generated by PCR from genomic DNAs of Cx. quinquefasciatus strains. We found that the kdr mutation was present in both permethrin-selected and unselected HAmCq and MAmCq mosquito populations, suggesting that the kdr mutation plays the role in permethrin resistance. There was no significant change in the frequency and heterozygosity of the A to T SNP for the kdr allele between permethrin-selected and unselected MAmCq and HAmCq mosquitoes, indicating that other mechanisms are involved in the evolution of resistance in mosquitoes selected by permethrin in the laboratory.

Copyright 2005 Society of Chemical Industry.