Background
Dr Magellan Tchouakui is a research scientist at CRID and Wellcome Trust Early-Career Fellow in Pathogen Biology and Disease Transmission. He successfully defended his PhD in 2020 from the university of Yaounde I supervised by Prof Charles Wondji and Prof Flobert Njiokou. His thesis focused on elucidating the fitness cost of metabolic resistance to insecticide in the major African malaria vectors. He started a Post-Doc in the BMGF funded project at CRID working to detect markers of resistance to novel insecticides for improving insecticide resistance management in malaria vectors. He has been recently awarded a 5-years prestigious Wellcome Trust Early career grant running from 2024-2028 to characterise the insecticide resistance-associated fitness cost and their compensatory genetic modifiers in major African malaria vectors. To date, He has co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed articles in various aspect of medical entomology and He has extensive expertise in mosquito Biology/ecology, insecticide resistance monitoring, mosquitoes swarms’ characterization, fitness cost evaluation, malaria transmission studies implementation, and molecular detection of genetic drivers of insecticide resistance in mosquitoes using transcriptomic and genomic approaches. He also has experience in experimental hut trials for bed nets and indoor-residual spraying products, and has been supporting the testing of novel insecticides formulations from companies such as Bayer and Syngenta through IVCC at CRID.
Research:
| There is currently little operational evidence of the efficacy of resistance management strategies such as rotation or mixture in malaria endemic countries preventing NMCP to implement suitable resistance management strategies. As newer insecticides are gradually recommended for public health, it now becomes urgent to improve our understanding of the effectiveness of various IR management strategies. My Research focuses on: i)-Characterising the fitness cost of insecticide resistance and ii) elucidating the molecular basis of resistance to novel insecticides in malaria vectors to achieve successful malaria control. |
- Areas of interest:
Disease vectors, malaria, agricultural pests, Anopheles, Fitness cost, Insecticide resistance, Insecticide resistance management, functional genomics, transcriptomics, modelling
- Research Areas:
Fitness cost of insecticide resistance and molecular basis of resistance to novel insecticides in malaria vectors
- PhD Students:
I am contributing in the training of young scientist and by mentoring a group of about 10 Ph.D and Master’s students: 1-Natchema Fonkou Brice,
2-Lamo Sonia,
3-Tepa Arnaud,
4-Assatse Tatiane ,
5-Tazokong Hervé,
6-Mahamat Gadji,
7-Tagne Djoko Carlos
8-Metissa Fleuriane,
9-Thiomela Ricardo,
10-Tientcheu Claudine Raissa,
11-Bebert Fotso,
12-Wilfried Toutcha.
Other relevant expertise, professional memberships,
I am reviewer for several research journals (PLOS-One, Scientifific reports, Parasites and vectors, Plos Negleted Tropical Diseases,PesticideBiochemistry andPhysiology, etc) and member of scientific societies including the American Society of Tropical Medecine and Hygiene (ASTMH), Pan-African Mosquitoes Association (PAMCA), the US-UK Collab: RCN: Vector Behavior in Transmission Ecology (VectorBiTE) Network, Member of Antivec, BOVA and CONNECTED Networks
Publications |
| I am author of more than 40 research papers in various journals including in Science Translational Medicine, Nature communication, Scientific Reports etc
Key publications a) Fitness cost associated with Insecticide resistance in malaria vectors Tchouakui, M., Miranda, J. R., Mugenzi, L. M., Djonabaye, D., Wondji, M. J., Tchoupo, M., et al. 2020. Cytochrome P450 metabolic resistance (CYP6P9a) to pyrethroids imposes a fitness cost in the major African malaria vector Anophele s funestus. Heredity, 124, 621-632. Tchouakui, M., Mugenzi, L. M., Wondji, M. J., Tchoupo, M., Njiokou, F., & Wondji, C. S. (2021). Combined over- expression of two cytochrome P450 genes exacerbates the fitness cost of pyrethroid resistance in the major African malaria vector Anopheles funestus. Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology, 104772. Tchouakui, M., Mugenzi, L. M. J., Wondji, M. J., Tchoupo, M., Njiokou, F. & Wondji, C. S. 2022. A 6.5kb Intergenic Structural Variation Exacerbates the Fitness Cost of P450-Based Metabolic Resistance in the Major African Malaria Vector Anopheles funestus. Genes, 13, 626. Tchouakui, M., Riveron, J. M., Djonabaye, D., Tchapga, W., Irving, H., Takam, P. S.,Njiokou, F. & Wondji, C. S. 2018. Fitness Costs of the Glutathione S-Transferase Epsilon 2 (L119F-GSTe2) Mediated Metabolic Resistance to Insecticides in the Major African Malaria Vector Anopheles Funestus. Genes, 9, 645. Tchouakui, M., Chiang, M.-C., Ndo, C., Kuicheu, C. K., Amvongo-Adjia, N., Wondji, M. J., Tchoupo, M., Kusimo, M. O., Riveron, J. M. & Wondji, C. S. 2019. A marker of glutathione S-transferase-mediated resistance to insecticides is associated with higher Plasmodium infection in the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus. Scientific reports, 9, 5772. Tchouakui, M., Oruni, A., Assatse, T., Manyaka, C. R., Tchoupo, M., Kayondo, J. & Wondji, C. S. 2022. Fitness cost of target-site and metabolic resistance to pyrethroids drives restoration of susceptibility in a highly resistant Anopheles gambiae population from Uganda. PLoS One, 17, e0271347. b) Molecular basis of Insecticide resistance in malaria vectors and functional validation using RNAi and drosophila flies Mugenzi, L.M.J., Menze, B.D., Tchouakui, M., Wondji, M.J., Irving, H., Tchoupo, M., Hearn, J., Weedall, G.D., Riveron, J.M., Cho-Ngwa, F., Wondji, C.S., 2020. A 6.5-kb intergenic structural variation enhances P450-mediated resistance to pyrethroids in malaria vectors lowering bed net efficacy. Mol Ecol 29, 4395-4411. G. D. Weedall, L. M. J. Mugenzi, B. D. Menze, M. Tchouakui, S. S. Ibrahim, N. Amvongo-Adjia, H. Irving, M. J. Wondji, M. Tchoupo, R. Djouaka, J. M. Riveron, C. S. Wondji, A cytochrome P450 allele confers pyrethroid resistance on a major African malaria vector, reducing insecticide-treated bednet efficacy. Sci. Transl. Med. 11, eaat7386 (2019). Mugenzi LMJ, Menze BD, Tchouakui M, Wondji MJ, Irving H, Tchoupo M, Hearn J, Weedall GD, Riveron JM, Wondji CS. 2019. Cis-regulatory CYP6P9b P450 variants associated with loss of insecticide-treated bed net efficacy against Anopheles funestus. Nat Commun 10: 4652. Kouamo, M. F., Ibrahim, S. S., Hearn, J., Riveron, J. M., Kusimo, M., Tchouakui, M., Ebai, T., Tchapga, W., Wondji, M. J. & Irving, H. 2021. Genome-wide transcriptional analysis and functional validation linked a cluster of epsilon glutathione S-transferases with insecticide resistance in the major malaria vector Anopheles funestus across Africa. Genes, 12, 561. c) Impact of resistance on efficacy of bed nets using in lab and Experimental huts Tchakounte, A., Tchouakui, M., Mu-Chun, C., Tchapga, W., Kopia, E., Soh, P. T., Njiokou, F., Riveron, J. M. & Wondji, C. S. 2019. Exposure to the insecticide-treated bednet PermaNet 2.0 reduces the longevity of the wild African malaria vector Anopheles funestus but GSTe2-resistant mosquitoes live longer. PLoS One, 14, e0213949. Ngongang-Yipmo, E. S., Tchouakui, M., Menze, B. D., Mugenzi, L. M., Njiokou, F., & Wondji, C. S. (2022). Reduced performance of community bednets against pyrethroid-resistant Anopheles funestus and Anopheles gambiae, major malaria vectors in Cameroon. Parasites & Vectors, 15(1), 230. Menze BD, Mugenzi LMJ, Tchouakui M, Wondji MJ, Tchoupo M, Wondji CS. 2022. Experimental Hut Trials Reveal That CYP6P9a/b P450 Alleles Are Reducing the Efficacy of Pyrethroid-Only Olyset Net against the Malaria Vector Anopheles funestus but PBO-Based Olyset Plus Net Remains Effective. Pathogens 11. Tchouakui M, Mugenzi LMJ, D. Menze B, Khaukha JNT, Tchapga W, Tchoupo M, et al. Pyrethroid Resistance Aggravation in Ugandan Malaria Vectors Is Reducing Bednet Efficacy. Pathogens. 2021;10(4):415. d) Monitoring development of resistance against novel insecticide classes Tchouakui, M., Assatse, T., Tazokong, H.R., Oruni, A., Menze, B.D., Nguiffo-Nguete, D., Mugenzi, L.M.J., Kayondo, J., Watsenga, F., Mzilahowa, T., Osae, M., Wondji, C.S., 2023. Detection of a reduced susceptibility to chlorfenapyr in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae contrasts with full susceptibility in Anopheles funestus across Africa. Sci Rep 13, 2363. Tchouakui, M., Assatse, T., Mugenzi, L.M.J., Menze, B.D., Nguiffo-Nguete, D., Tchapga, W., Kayondo, J., Watsenga, F., Manzambi, E.Z., Osae, M., Wondji, C.S., 2022. Comparative study of the effect of solvents on the efficacy of neonicotinoid insecticides against malaria vector populations across Africa. Infect Dis Poverty 11, 35. e) Review and Book Riveron, J. M., Tchouakui, M., Mugenzi, L., Menze, B. D., Chiang, M.-C. & Wondji, C.S. 2018. Insecticide resistance in malaria vectors: An update at a global scale. Towards Malaria Elimination- A Leap Forward. Intech Open. http:// dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78375. Suh, P. F., Elanga-Ndille, E., Tchouakui, M., Sandeu, M. M., Tagne, D., Wondji, C. S. & Ndo, C. 2023. Impact of insecticide resistance on malaria vector competence: a literature review. Malaria Journal, 22.
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