The spread of insecticide resistance genes in Anopheles gambiae Giles sensu stricto threatens to compromise vector-based malaria control programs. Two mutations at the same locus in the voltage-gated sodium channel gene are known to confer knockdown resistance (kdr) to pyrethroids and DDT. Kdr-e involves a leucine-serine substitution, and it was until recently thought to be restricted to East Africa, whereas kdr-w, which involves a leucine-phenylalanine substitution, is associated with resistance in West Africa. In this study, we analyze the frequency and relationship between the kdr genotypes and resistance to type I and type II pyrethroids and DDT by using WHO test kits in both the Forest-M and S molecular forms of An. gambiae in Cameroon. Both kdr-w and kdr-e polymorphisms were found in sympatric An. gambiae, and in many cases in the same mosquito. Kdr-e and kdr-w were detected in both forms, but they were predominant in the S form. Both kdr-e and kdr-w were closely associated with resistance to DDT and weakly associated with resistance to type II pyrethroids. Kdr-w conferred greater resistance to permethrin than kdr-e. We also describe a modified diagnostic designed to detect both resistant alleles simultaneously.

The spread of insecticide resistance genes in Anopheles gambiae Giles sensu stricto threatens to compromise vector-based malaria control programs. Two mutations at the same locus in the voltage-gated sodium channel gene are known to confer knockdown resistance (kdr) to pyrethroids and DDT. Kdr-e involves a leucine-serine substitution, and it was until recently thought to be restricted to East Africa, whereas kdr-w, which involves a leucine-phenylalanine substitution, is associated with resistance in West Africa. In this study, we analyze the frequency and relationship between the kdr genotypes and resistance to type I and type II pyrethroids and DDT by using WHO test kits in both the Forest-M and S molecular forms of An. gambiae in Cameroon. Both kdr-w and kdr-e polymorphisms were found in sympatric An. gambiae, and in many cases in the same mosquito. Kdr-e and kdr-w were detected in both forms, but they were predominant in the S form. Both kdr-e and kdr-w were closely associated with resistance to DDT and weakly associated with resistance to type II pyrethroids. Kdr-w conferred greater resistance to permethrin than kdr-e. We also describe a modified diagnostic designed to detect both resistant alleles simultaneously.

BackgroundActivity in neurons drives afferent competition that is critical for the refinement of nascent neural circuits. In ferrets, when an eye is lost in early development, surviving retinogeniculate afferents from the spared eye spread across the thalamus in a manner that is dependent on spontaneous retinal activity. However, how this spontaneous activity, also known as retinal waves, might dynamically regulate afferent terminal targeting remains unknown.MethodsWe recorded retinal waves from retinae ex vivo using multi-electrode arrays. Retinae came from ferrets who were binocular or who had one eye surgically removed at birth. Linear mixed effects models were used to investigate the effects of early monocular enucleation on retinal wave activity.ResultsWhen an eye is removed at birth, spontaneous bursts of action potentials by retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the surviving eye are shorter in duration. The shortening of RGC burst duration results in decreased pairwise RGC correlations across the retina and is associated with the retinal wave-dependent spread of retinogeniculate afferents previously reported in enucleates.ConclusionOur findings show that removal of the competing eye modulates retinal waves and could underlie the dynamic regulation of competition-based refinement during retinogeniculate development.