Dr Tchouakui Magellan, Principal Investigator
Malaria remains a devastating disease in the World (nearly 1/2 of the world population at risk) and particularly in Africa where more than 95% of cases are occurring. Prevention still primarily relies on vector control using insecticide-based interventions including impregnated nets which have significantly reduced malaria’s burden in Africa since their introduction. Given this heavy reliance on insecticide-based strategies for malaria vector control, the spread of Insecticide Resistance (IR) across sub-Saharan Africa threatens the long-term effectiveness of these strategies.
Fitness costs are potential negative consequences that occur when an insect population develops resistance to a particular insecticide or control method. Current Insecticide Resistance Managements (IRMs) such as rotation/mixture of insecticide with unrelated mode of action rely on the assumption that fitness costs associated with resistant mosquito phenotypes – physical and behavioural characteristics – may reduce the ability of such vectors to survive and transmit malaria in the absence of selection pressure.
Unfortunately, studies to measure such costs in the field population of malaria vectors are very rare, hindering novel product development and successful IRM implementations. Such studies are greatly needed as novel insecticide classes (chlorfenapyr, neonicotinoids, broflanilide) are gradually introduced in public health, and control programs need to design suitable strategies to slow resistance development.
Aim
This project seeks to decipher the insecticide resistance-associated fitness cost and their compensatory genetic modifiers in major African malaria vectors to improve the management of resistance and prolong the efficacy of current and novel insecticide-based interventions. The project is a Wellcome Trust Early-Career Award of value £710,000.00. It is intended to last from 2024 to 2029. The principal investigator is Dr Tchouakui Magellan
Specifically, he intends to:
- Evaluate the fitness cost of resistance to current and novel insecticides on key life traits of field gambiae using recently established DNA-based markers.
- Detect and validate the genetic variants alleviating the fitness cost of resistance in this important malaria vector and design DNA-based tools to track their spatio-temporal spread.
- Establish the impact of the modifiers on the effectiveness of IRM strategies such as rotation/mixture of insecticide classes.
