Jaber Daaboub^1,2 , Ahmed Tabbabi¹ , Ali Lamari¹ , Mohamed Feriani¹ , Chokri Boubaker¹ , Hassen Ben Cheikh¹

1 Laboratory of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine of Monastir, Monastir University, 5019, Monastir, Tunisia
2 Department of Hygiene and Environmental Protection, Ministry of Public Health, 1006, Bab Saadoun, Tunis, Tunisia
Author    Correspondence author
Journal of Mosquito Research, 2017, Vol. 7, No. 10   doi: 10.5376/jmr.2017.07.0010
Received: 09 Jun., 2017    Accepted: 26 Jun., 2017    Published: 05 Jul., 2017

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Daaboub J., Tabbabi A., Lamari A, Feriani F., Boubaker C., and Ben Cheikh H., 2017, Levels of insecticide resistance to temephos, and associated mechanisms in Culex pipiens mosquitoes from central Tunisia, Journal of Mosquito Research, 7(10): 79-83 (doi: 10.5376/jmr.2017.07.0010)

Five populations of Culex pipiens collected in central Tunisia were evaluated for their susceptibility to temephos. The resistance level was high for samples # 5 (>50-fold), and low, not exceeding 4-fold in the other resistant samples. LC₅₀ showed the susceptibility of sample # 2. The CYP450 enzyme was found related to temephos resistance in three samples. In fact, the addition of Pb to temephos bioassays completely suppressed the resistance in samples # 1 (RR₅₀=0.84, p>0.05, RSR=3.0) and 5 (RR₅₀=1.5, p>0.05, RSR=37.1). The temephos resistance level of sample # 3 decreased slightly (RR=1.9, p<0.05, RSR=1.7). The biochemical assays detected elevated esterases in all studied samples with different frequencies to be involved the recorded resistance to temephos. However, synergists bioassays did not suggested any esterase activity. The insensitive AChE 1 could be responsible partly in the resistance to temephos insecticide (OP). In fact, Mortalities due to propoxur (< 25%) were recorded in two resistant samples and (>75%) were recorded in the most susceptible samples. There is an urgent need to replace the insecticide temephos for continued control of Culex pipiens in Tunisia.

Culex pipiens; Temephos Resistance; CYP450; Esterases, AChE 1; Central Tunisia