Mosquito colonies

LITE maintain a large repository of fully characterised insecticide susceptible and resistant mosquito colonies of the genera Anopheles, Aedes, and Culex, for on-site laboratory testing. Climatic variables, including day length, lighting levels, temperature, and humidity, can be adjusted in our insectaries to ensure all our mosquito species are housed in optimal conditions.

All colonies undergo regular quality control checks that include genotyping to verify species ID and record the prevalence of known insecticide resistance alleles.

Resistant colonies are all maintained under regular insecticide selection pressure and are profiled using discriminating doses of insecticides to confirm and maintain their resistance phenotype.

LITE maintains close links to the VBD and when new mutations or resistance mechanisms are identified, we screen our colonies for these new markers for further characterisation.

Upon request, LITE can arrange to access additional insecticide resistant strains reared by the VBD at LSTM, or to acquire and rear your colony of interest for testing. Subject to MTA agreements, we are also able to provide supplies of mosquito eggs or testing-age adults. Please get in touch to discuss your specific requirements.

Further information about these colonies can be found in the following publications:

Williams et al., 2022 Insects

Williams et al., 2019 Parasit Vectors