Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology 301 Funchess Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849-5413, USA.
Department of Biology Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA.
Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 27;11(1):9041. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-88121-x.
Insecticides, especially pyrethroids, are the most important in the insect pest control and preventing insect vector-borne human diseases. However, insect pests, including mosquitoes, have developed resistance in the insecticides that used against them. Cytochrome P450s are associated with insecticide resistance through overexpression and detoxification mechanisms in insect species. In this study, we utilized a powerful tool, the RNAi technique, to determine the roles of key P450 genes overexpressed in permethrin resistant mosquitoes that confer insecticide resistance to unravel the molecular basis of resistance mechanisms in the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus. The results showed that knockdown of 8 key P450 genes using RNAi techniques significantly decreased resistance to permethrin in resistant mosquitoes. In silico modeling and docking analysis further revealed the potential metabolic function of overexpressed P450 genes in the development of insecticide resistance in mosquitoes. These findings not only highlighted the functional importance of these P450 genes in insecticide resistance, but also revealed that overexpression of multiple P450 genes was responsible for the high levels of insecticide resistance in a mosquito population of Culex quinquefasciatus.
杀虫剂，特别是拟除虫菊酯，是防治害虫和预防昆虫媒介传播人类疾病的最重要手段。然而，包括蚊子在内的害虫对用于防治它们的杀虫剂已经产生了抗药性。细胞色素 P450s 通过过度表达和解毒机制与昆虫的抗药性有关。在这项研究中，我们利用一种强大的工具，即 RNAi 技术，来确定在拟除虫菊酯抗性蚊子中过度表达的关键 P450 基因的作用，这些基因赋予了蚊子对杀虫剂的抗性，以揭示蚊子 Culex quinquefasciatus 中抗性机制的分子基础。结果表明，使用 RNAi 技术敲低 8 个关键 P450 基因，可显著降低抗性蚊子对拟除虫菊酯的抗性。计算机建模和对接分析进一步揭示了过度表达的 P450 基因在蚊子对杀虫剂产生抗药性过程中的潜在代谢功能。这些发现不仅强调了这些 P450 基因在杀虫剂抗性中的功能重要性，还表明多个 P450 基因的过度表达是导致 Culex quinquefasciatus 蚊子种群高水平杀虫剂抗性的原因。
