The pharmacological flexibility of the insect voltage gated sodium channel: toxicity of AaIT to knockdown resistant (kdr) flies.

AaIT is an insect selective neurotoxic polypeptide shown to affect insect neuronal sodium conductance by binding to excitable sodium channels. In the present study the paralytic potency of AaIT to wild type and various mutant strains of houseflies (Musca domestica) and fruitflies (Drosophila melanogaster) was examined and it has been shown that: On the basis of body weight when compared to published data on Sarcophaga falculata blowflies, the Musca and Drosophila flies reveal at least two orders of magnitude decreased susceptibility to the AaIT. When compared to wild type flies the toxicity of AaIT is greatly altered in knockdown resistant fly strains which are mutated in their para gene encoding the voltage gated sodium channel. Several strains, with genetically mapped para mutations conferring pyrethroid resistance, exhibited opposing response to AaIT. The para ts2 Drosophila strain, with a point of mutation in domain I of the para gene conferring a 6-fold resistance to deltamethrin also showed about 15-fold tolerance to AaIT. On the other hand the Musca kdr and super-kdr flies, with a single or a double point mutation, respectively in domain II of the para gene, are about 9- and 14-fold more susceptible to AaIT, respectively. The above data are interpreted in terms of the pharmacological diversity and flexibility ("allosteric coupling") of voltage gated sodium channels and their implications for the management of pesticide resistance are discussed.