Ashraf M. Ahmed
King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Title: Bacterial challenge in the control measures of mosquito-borne diseases: The battle against mosquito vectors
Biography
Biography: Ashraf M. Ahmed
Abstract
Malaria, kills several millions annually worldwide and is transmitted by anopheline mosquitoes. The recently evolved problem in the human battle against malaria is the pesticide resistance of the vector and the rapid spread of multiple anti-malarial drug-resistance of malaria parasite. Great efforts are currently being done to utilize the vector immune system (refractoriness) in this battle. This strategy is being seriously tested regardless of the concomitant reproductive cost, the price of immune induction that must be paid by the vector. This, in fact, may reduce the importance of this immune-based control strategy in the battle against such mosquito-borne diseases. In spite of the research emphasis on the use of transgenic pathogen-refractory mosquitoes, insecticides are still the main method for controlling mosquito vectors, although being environmental pollutants and facing vector resistance that now threatening the effective life of these chemical compounds. Thus, recent studies have refocused interest on mosquitocidal bacteria as useful eco-friend alternatives to conventional insecticides, suggesting them as bio-control candidates in the human battle against mosquito-borne diseases. Yet, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) faced no resistance from insect host due to both the interactions among its multiple toxins and their respective receptors in mosquito midgut, and it is likely that these multiple intermolecular interactions are the major reasons for the absence of passive resistance to Bt in mosquitoes. This talk will discuss these scenarios in terms of the costs of vector immune-control strategy, Bt mosquitocidal mechanisms and new Bt isolates with enhanced mosquitocidal toxicity.