Mosquitoes that develop drug resistance may have specific mechanisms in their legs that enable them to survive treated bed nets, according to British researchers.
The Liverpool scientists found a protein expressed in the legs of the insects that triggers resistance mechanisms.
They believe this means that protective mechanisms are triggered when the animals land on nets treated with pyrethroids.
The work at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine was reported in Nature this week.
The researchers say the finding also means the SAP2 protein is an "excellent potential target" for improvements to treatment aimed at disabling it.
Researcher Professor Hilary Ranson said: “Long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets remain one of the key interventions in malaria control. It is vital that we understand and mitigate for resistance within mosquito populations in order to ensure that the dramatic reductions in disease rates in previous decades are not reversed.
"This newly discovered resistance mechanism could provide us with an important target for both the monitoring of insecticide resistance and the development of novel compounds able to block pyrethroid resistance and prevent the spread of malaria.”
A sensory appendage protein protects malaria vectors from pyrethroids. Nature 24 December 2019; doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1864-1
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