DNA sequence and site of mutation of the GABA receptor of cyclodiene-resistant red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum.

Using polymerase chain reactions (PCR) on cDNA, the DNA sequence of a membrane spanning region of a GABA receptor of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum was identified. The deduced amino acid sequence indicates that its basic structure is similar to the GABA receptor of Rdl type subunits of Drosophila melanogaster and of Blattella germanica. Particularly conserved are M1, M2 and M3 segments. Within this 146 amino acid stretch, the GABA receptor from the red flour beetle differed from corresponding ones from Drosophila and Rdl subunit of B. germanica by 12 and eight amino acids, respectively. By using an identical approach, the corresponding DNA region was sequenced from the cDNA of a cyclodiene-resistant strain of T. castaneum. While two points of mutation were found only one mutation in DNA was found to result in an amino acid shift. The site of mutation was at the 5th amino acid of the M2 cylinder where G to T conversion of the GCT codon resulted in a conversion of alanine to serine. This is qualitatively the same mutational switch of alanine to serine in resistant strains previously reported to have occurred in cyclodiene-resistant Drosophila melanogaster, Aedes aegypti and Blattella germanica, indicating that this amino acid change is the likely cause for evolution of the nerve insensitive type of resistance to cyclodiene insecticides.