Esterase polymorphism in insecticide susceptible populations of the mosquito Culex pipiens.

Gene amplification involving a particular haplotype has been found at the esterase B locus of mosquitoes from various countries. This similarity has been explained by a unique amplification event followed by migration and selection by organophosphate (OP) insecticides. This assumes that the polymorphism of non-amplified esterase haplotypes is so large that the chance of independent amplification in two distinct populations is negligible. In order to test this assumption, three susceptible populations from northern Europe were sampled and analysed for esterase and haplotype polymorphism. At the protein level, 18 and 16 alleles were found for esterase A and B respectively in one French population (n = 74), and 16 and 14 in an English one (n = 50). At the DNA level, 24 alleles at the esterase B locus were detected in a sample of 72 mosquitoes from one population, with the use of only one restriction enzyme (EcoR V). Restriction maps of two non-amplified haplotypes randomly sampled from a single breeding site in Belgium were built with six restriction enzymes. 60% of all restriction sites were different among the two maps. The huge polymorphism found in northern Europe requires specific explanations for its stability, but it considerably strengthens the hypothesis of migration of amplified haplotypes.