Recently, Taylor-Wells et al. published evidence that the GABA receptor, RDL, from mosquitoes undergo RNA A-to-I editing to generate an extraordinarily large range of isoforms. This editing was found to impact on GABA receptor pharmacology as it influenced the potency of GABA and ivermectin. This highlights RNA editing as a species-specific mechanism to fine tune receptor function as well as possibly increase tolerance of mosquitoes to certain insecticides. This commentary also considers novel findings from analysis of Rdl transcripts from individual mosquitoes taken from different geographical areas.
Jones, Andrew K.
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences\Department of Biological and Medical Sciences
Year of publication: 2018Date of RADAR deposit: 2018-09-12