title: Tight genetic linkage between the kdr insecticide resistance trait and a voltage-sensitive sodium channel gene in the house fly.
abstract: The kdr insecticide resistance trait in the house fly, Musca domestica, confers resistance to the rapid paralysis (knockdown) and lethal effects of 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) and pyrethroids. Flies with the kdr trait exhibit reduced neuronal sensitivity to these compounds, which are known to act at voltage-sensitive sodium channels of nerve membranes. To test the hypothesis that a mutation in a voltage-sensitive sodium channel gene confers the kdr phenotype, we have cloned genomic DNA corresponding to a segment of the house fly homologue of the para sodium channel gene of Drosophila melanogaster, identified restriction-site polymorphisms within this segment between the kdr strain 538ge and an inbred insecticide-susceptible lab stain, and developed a sensitive polymerase chain reaction-based diagnostic procedure to determine the sodium channel genotype of individual flies. A genetic linkage analysis performed with these molecular markers shows that the kdr trait is tightly linked (within about 1 map unit) to the voltage-sensitive sodium channel gene segment exhibiting the DNA sequence polymorphism. These findings provide genetic evidence for a mutation at or near a voltage-sensitive sodium channel gene as the basis for kdr resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva 14456.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Knipple
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Marsella-Herrick
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Soderlund
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003634:DDT / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D017344:Genes, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006793:Houseflies / Q000235:genetics*; D007305:Insecticide Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015222:Sodium Channels / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D015222:Sodium Channels; D003634:DDT