Influence of GST- and P450-based metabolic resistance to pyrethroids on blood feeding in the major African malaria vector Anopheles funestus

• Published in: PloS one 2020-01, Vol.15 (9)
• Main Authors: Lynda Nouage, Emmanuel Elanga-Ndille, Achille Binyang, Magellan Tchouakui, Tatiane Atsatse, Cyrille Ndo, Sévilor Kekeunou, Charles S. Wondji, Basil Brooke
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1932-6203

Insecticide resistance genes are often associated with pleiotropic effects on various mosquito life-history traits. However, very little information is available on the impact of insecticide resistance on blood feeding process in mosquitoes. Here, using two recently detected DNA-based metabolic markers in the major malaria vector, An. funestus, we investigated how metabolic resistance genes could affect the blood meal intake. After allowing both the field F1 and lab F8 Anopheles funestus strains to feed on the human arm for 30 minutes, we assessed the association between key parameters of blood meal process including, probing time, feeding duration, blood feeding success, blood meal size, and markers of glutathione S-transferase (L119F-GSTe2) and cytochrome P450 (CYP6P9a_R)—mediated metabolic resistance. None of the parameters of blood meal process was associated with L119F-GSTe2 genotypes. By contrast, for CYP6P9a_R, homozygous resistant mosquitoes were significantly more able to blood-feed than homozygous susceptible (OR = 3.3; CI 95%: 1.4–7.7; P = 0.01) mosquitoes. Moreover, the volume of blood meal ingested by CYP6P9a-SS mosquitoes was lower than that of CYP6P9a-RS (P