Development and Application of a Tri-allelic PCR Assay for Screening Vgsc-L1014F Kdr Mutations Associated with Pyrethroid and Organochlorine Resistance in the Mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus

Abstract

BackgroundCulex quinquefasciatus, has a widespread distribution across tropical and sub-tropical regions, and plays an important role in the transmission of vector-borne diseases of public health importance, including lymphatic filariasis (LF) and multiple arboviruses. Increased resistance to insecticides threatens the efficacy and sustainability of insecticide-based anti-vector interventions which mitigate the burden of mosquito transmitted diseases in endemic regions. In C. quinquefasciatus two non-synonymous voltage gated sodium channel (Vgsc) variants, both resulting in a leucine to phenylalanine change at codon 1014, are associated with resistance to pyrethroids and DDT. This tri-allelic variation has compromised the ability to perform high-throughput single-assay screening. To facilitate the detection and monitoring of the Vgsc-1014 locus in field-caught mosquitoes, an Engineered-Tail Allele-Specific-PCR (ETAS-PCR) diagnostic assay was developed and applied to wild mosquitoes from Brazil, Tanzania and Uganda.\n\nResultsThis new cost-effective, single-tube assay was compared to two, well-established, genotyping approaches - pyrosequencing and TaqMan. The ETAS-PCR assay showed high specificity for discriminating the three alleles at Vgsc-L1014F, with genotyping results strongly correlated with 98.64% and 100% against pyrosequencing and TaqMan, respectively.\n\nConclusionsOur results support the utility of the ETAS-PCR/Vgsc-1014 diagnostic assay, which stands as an effective alternative for genotyping tri-allelic variants.