Landscape genetics in the control of Anopheles gambiae (360G-Wellcome-110236_Z_15_Z)

In the last few years carbama te and organophosphate insecticides have become increasing important for indoor residual spraying (IRS) as a response to heightening levels of resistance to pyrethroids. However, the scale-up ofIRS in West Africa,provides the potential for resistance to spread dramatically from the agricultural areas where currently most prevalent. This project aims to understand how the interplay between mosquito migration and changing environmentaI and scapes de termines the movement of insecticide resistance.Such informationis criti cal to help prevent resistance rapidly undermining current initiatives inIRS-based control. The work would exploti recent advances in cost-effective molecular marker screening, analysis techniques and identification of key insecticide resistance mutations to address key aims.lwill investigate how movements of the dominant West African malaria vectors,Anopheles gambiae and An. coluzzii, within and across heterogeneous environments throughout Ghana can spread insecticide resistance. Individual mosquitoes will be screened at thousands of genomewide markers, in a sta tistically powerful design tailored towardindividual-based landscape genetic analyses. Alongside diagnostic screening of mutations causing strong insecticide resistance,and studies of their fitness costs and benefits, the work will provide timely insight into factors promoting and retardina spread of resistance to important insecticide classes