Inheritance of Resistance to Temephos in a Laboratory Selected Strain of the Potential Mosquito Vector of West Nile Virus (Culex pipiens) from Tunisi

The inheritance pattern of resistance was investigated in laboratory-induced temephos resistant and susceptible strains of Culex pipiens. The field population collected in Northwestern Tunisia was subjected to temephos selection and after 6 generations in the laboratory identified as Bou.tem6. Different genetic crosses were carried out between resistant and sensitive strains. The F1 offspring of the reciprocal crosses between the Bou.tem6 and S-Lab strains showed high levels of temephos resistance indicating that the resistant gene is completely dominant. The dose-mortality lines of reciprocal crosses to a sensitive colony showed the same projection and confirmed the autosomal inheritance of the resistance. Dose/mortality data for backcross showed that resistance to temephos is multifactorial. Our results were discussed in relation with previous studies.