Uncovering the genetic diversity in Aedes aegypti insecticide resistance genes through global comparative genomics

Abstract

Insecticides are essential to control the transmission of vector-borne diseases to humans and animals, but their efficacy is being threatened by the spread of resistance across multiple medically important mosquito species. An example of this is Aedes aegypti - a major vector of arboviruses, including Zika, dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, and Chikungunya, with widespread insecticide resistance reported in the Americas and Asia, while data from Africa is more limited. Here we investigate the global genetic diversity in four insecticide resistance associated genes: ace-1, GSTe2, rdl and vgsc. Apart from vgsc, the other genes have been less investigated in Ae. aegypti, and limited genetic diversity information is available. We explore a large whole-genome sequencing dataset of 729 Ae. aegypti across 15 countries including nine in Africa. Among the four genes, we identified 1,829 genetic variants including 474 non-synonymous substitutions, as well as putative copy number variations in GSTe2 and vgsc. Among these are many previously documented insecticide resistance mutations which were present at different frequencies and combinations depending on origin of samples. Global insecticide resistance phenotypic data demonstrated variable resistance in geographic areas with resistant genotypes. These warrant further investigation to assess their functional contribution to insecticide resistant phenotypes and their potential development into genetic panels for operational surveillance. Overall, our work provides the first global catalogue and geographic distribution of known and new amino-acid mutations and duplications that can be used to guide the identification of resistance drivers in Ae. aegypti and thereby support monitoring efforts and strategies for vector control.