Abstract
Housefly, Musca domestica, is considered responsible for transmitting a wide variety of human and veterinary diseases. Mostly, insecticides are being used for their control and more commonly, pyrethroid insecticides worldwide. However, resistance has been reported against various pyrethroid insecticides. Houseflies become resistant by two major mechanisms, i.e., target site insensitivity through knockdown resistance gene mutation (kdr) and enzyme detoxification. Thus, the current study was designed to monitor the frequency of pyrethroid resistance gene kdr in housefly populations of District Jhang. The flies were collected from seven sampling sites and then reared in the lab for molecular and biochemical assays. The amplification of template DNA was performed for knockdown resistance gene through the outer primers kdr1 and kdr4, and the inner primers kdr1 and kdr2 using PASA (PCR Amplification of Specific Alleles) method which specifically amplify the domain-II of kdr gene. Three populations were found homozygous susceptible (+/+; 42.85%), whereas two populations were found genetically homozygous resistant (−/−; 28.57%) which are insensitive to pyrethroid insecticides. Similarly, two populations were found heterozygous (+/−; 28.57%) for kdr suggesting thereby that at least 1/4th homozygous-resistant (−/−) housefly populations with insensitivity to pyrethroids would be produced in the future keeping in view the Mendelian ratio. Biochemical assay showed that homozygous-resistant populations had increased activity of Acetylcholinesterase (AChE), α-Carboxylesterases (α-Carboxyl), β-Carboxylesterase (β-Carboxyl), Alkaline Phosphatase (AkP), and Acidic Phosphatase (AcP) enzymes. In addition, heterozygous populations also showed increased activities of these enzymes. The current results would not only help avoid the indiscriminate load of insecticides onto the environment but also serve as a hallmark for the management of housefly populations in target areas in the future.
Highlights
Is considered a major insect pest of animals as well as humans mainly due to its high rate of fecundity (Brown et al, 1995)
To evaluate the resistance against insecticides lab strain of Musca domestica was treated with five insecticides Lambda cyhalothrin, deltamethrin, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, and tetramethrin, having used different concentrations viz. 2.5, 5, 10, 20, and 40% at exposure times of 24, 48, and 72 h, respectively
Adult housefly (Musca domestica L.) was collected from seven different locations of Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan first to investigate the level of resistance against commercially used pyrethroid insecticides through bioassays and to molecular genotyping of kdr mutation through PASA to reveal the frequency of kdr allele in field populations of housefly
Summary
Is considered a major insect pest of animals as well as humans mainly due to its high rate of fecundity (Brown et al, 1995). It reduces the level of livestock activities through annoyance, upsetting animals during their times of feeding and resting, and induces potential transmission of various pathogens (Cheeke, 2005; Forster et al, 2009). Flies pick up pathogens from detritus, waste, and the other resources of sludge and transfer vomits through their body parts, faeces, and contaminated mouth parts to humans, poultry, and various animals. The pathogens usually transferred by houseflies are Pseudomonas, Shigela, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, Enterococcu, Klebsiella, Campylobacter, Acinetobacter, Trichuris, Chlamydia, and Strongyloides larvae, Entrobious vermicularis causing typhoid fever, food poisoning, tuberculosis, dysentery, opthalmic, anthrax, and infestation by parasitic worms (Khamesipour et al, 2018; Iqbal et al, 2014; Lord and Boston, 1904)
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