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Title

Identification and classification of detoxification enzymes from Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae)

 

Authors

BP Niranjan Reddy1, 2, B Prasad Rao 1, 2, GBKS Prasad2, K Raghavendra1*

 

Affiliation

1Vector Control Division, Insectary and Insecticide resistance lab, National Institute of Malaria Research (ICMR), Sector 8, Dwarka, New Delhi, India; 2School of Studies in Biotechnology, Jiwaji University, Gwalior, MP, India

 

Email

kamarajur2000@yahoo.com; *Corresponding author

 

Article Type

Hypothesis

 

Date

Received April 12, 2012; Accepted April 28, 2012; Published May 15, 2012

Abstract

Molecular characterization of the insecticide resistance has become a hot research topic ever since the first disease transmitting arthropod (Anopheles gambiae) genome sequence has unveiled in 2002. A recent publication of the Culex quinquefasciatus genome sequence has opened up new opportunities for molecular and comparative genomic analysis of multiple mosquito genomes to characterize the insecticide resistance. Here, we utilized a whole genome sequence of Cx. quinquefasciatus to identify putatively active members of the detoxification supergene families, namely cytochrome P450s (P450s), glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs), and choline/carboxylesterases (CCEs). The Culex genome analysis revealed 166 P450s, 40 GSTs, and 62 CCEs. Further, the comparative genomic analysis shows that these numbers are considerably higher than the other dipteran mosquitoes. These observed species-specific expansions of the detoxification super gene family members endorse the popular understanding of the involvement of these gene families in protecting the organism against multitudinous classes of toxic substances during its complex (aquatic and terrestrial) life cycle. Thus, the generated data set may provide an initial point to start with to characterize the insecticide resistance at a molecular level which could then lead the development of an easy to use molecular marker to monitor the incipient insecticide resistance in field environs.

 

Keywords

Culex quinquefasciatus, Detoxification enzymes, Cytochrome P450 (P450), Glutathione-S-transferase (GST), Choline/carboxylesterase (CCE)

 

Citation

Reddy et al. Bioinformation 8(9): 430-436 (2012)

Edited by

P Kangueane

 

ISSN

0973-2063

 

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

 

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.