MoNaS

MoNaS genotypes amino acid substitutions in mosquito voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) genes from pooled barcoded Illumina next-generation sequencing data to detect mutations associated with pyrethroid insecticide resistance.

Key Features:

• Targeted enrichment with biotinylated probes: Uses biotinylated oligonucleotide probes designed from VGSC coding sequences (CDSs) of Aedes albopictus to enrich VGSC regions from pooled barcoded Illumina libraries, achieving greater than 80,000-fold concentration.
• Cross-species capture of VGSC CDSs: The probe set captures orthologous VGSC CDSs in other Culicinae species such as Aedes aegypti and the Culex pipiens complex, with potential loss of some very small exons.
• Automated variant-detection pipeline: Includes an automated bioinformatics pipeline that processes NGS reads to identify amino acid substitutions in VGSC genes.
• Comparison to known resistance mutations: Detected mutations are compared with known pyrethroid resistance mutations to facilitate identification of novel variants.
• Population-genetic data output: Produces genotypes usable for studies on the origin, selection, and migration of resistance alleles in mosquito populations.

Scientific Applications:

• Insecticide resistance surveillance: Detection and genotyping of VGSC mutations associated with pyrethroid resistance in mosquito populations.
• Cross-species VGSC analysis: Comparative genotyping of VGSC orthologs across Aedes albopictus, Aedes aegypti, and the Culex pipiens complex.
• Population genetics of resistance alleles: Support for studies of origin, selection, and migration of VGSC resistance alleles.
• Discovery of novel resistance variants: Identification of previously unreported amino acid substitutions potentially linked to pyrethroid resistance.

Methodology:

The automated pipeline processes NGS reads to identify amino acid substitutions in VGSC genes and compares detected mutations with known resistance mutations.