Chlorpyrifos resistance in mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus

Two mosquito strains of Culex quinquefasciatus Say, MAmCq and HAmCq, were collected from Mobile and Huntsville, AL, respectively, after the control of mosquitoes with insecticides proved difficult. A synergism study showed that resistance to chlorpyrifos in MAmCq and HAmCq was not suppressed by piperonyl butoxide (PBO) and S,S,S,-tributylphosphorotrithioate (DEF), suggesting that P450 monooxygenase- and hydrolase-mediated detoxication does not contribute to chlorpyrifos resistance in either strain. Diethyl maleate (DEM) did not cause any significant change in the level of chlorpyrifos toxicity to HAmCq. However, DEM enhanced toxicity of chlorpyrifos to MAmCq 2.5-fold, indicating that glutathione S-transferase (GST)-mediated detoxication may play a minor role in the resistance of MAmCq. An inhibition study of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) by chlorpyrifos showed that bimolecular rate constants (Ki) of chlorpyrifos for the inhibition of AChE in adults and larvae of the susceptible S-Lab strain were 2.2- and 1.9-fold higher, respectively, than in the HAmCq strain and 3.4- and 3.8-fold higher than in the MAmCq strain. The single mutation, G119S, resulting from a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), G to A, in ace-1 acetylcholinesterase gene was present in HAmCq and MAmCq mosquitoes. The frequency of the heterozygote for the G119S mutant allele in the HAmCq and MAmCq mosquito populations was 0.25 and 0.45, respectively, and no individuals in either of these mosquito strains were homozygous for the A allele. It thus seems likely that the presence of heterozygous individuals for the G119S allele in HAmCq and MAmCq populations may be a response to the insensitivity of AChE observed in these two mosquito strains.