COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF ANOPHELES GAMBIAE METABOLISM TO FACILITATE INSECTICIDAL TARGET AND COMPLEX RESISTANCE MECHANISM DISCOVERY

📄 Project Abstract

Insecticide resistance is a genetic characteristic involving changes in one or more insect genes. It is also a major public health challenge combating world efforts on malaria control and strategies. The Malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae (A. gambiae) has formed resistance to the existing classes of insecticides, especially pyrethroid, the only class approved for Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) and Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Net (LLITNs). Identification of novel insecticidal targets for the development of more effective insecticides is therefore urgent. However, deciding which gene products are ideal insecticidal targets remains a difficult task in the search. To this end, it has been shown that the dissection and comprehensive studies of biochemical metabolic networks has great potential to effectively and specifically identify and extract essential enzymes as potential insecticidal targets. Using the PathoLogic programme, AnoCyc, a pathway/genome database (PGDB) for A. gambiae AgamP...