An ace-1 gene duplication resorbs the fitness cost associated with resistance in Anopheles gambiae, the main malaria mosquito

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Assogba, Benoît, S | Djogbénou, Luc | Milesi, Pascal | Berthomieu, Arnaud | Perez, Julie | Ayala, Diego | Chandre, Fabrice | Makoutodé, Michel | Labbe, Pierrick | Weill, Mylène

Edité par CCSD ; Nature Publishing Group -

International audience. Widespread resistance to pyrethroids threatens malaria control in Africa. Consequently, several countries switched to carbamates and organophophates insecticides for indoor residual spraying. However, a mutation in the ace-1 gene conferring resistance to these compounds (ace-1 R allele), is already present. Furthermore, a duplicated allele (ace-1 D) recently appeared; characterizing its selective advantage is mandatory to evaluate the threat. Our data revealed that a unique duplication event, pairing a susceptible and a resistant copy of the ace-1 gene spread through West Africa. Further investigations revealed that, while ace-1 D confers less resistance than ace-1 R , the high fitness cost associated with ace-1 R is almost completely suppressed by the duplication for all traits studied. ace-1 duplication thus represents a permanent heterozygote phenotype, selected, and thus spreading, due to the mosaic nature of mosquito control. It provides malaria mosquito with a new evolutionary path that could hamper resistance management.

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