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Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti) is one of the most important vectors of dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever viruses. The use of chemical control strategies such as insecticides is associated with problems including the development of insecticide resistance, side effects on animal and human health, and environmental concerns. Because current methods have not proven sufficient to control these diseases, developing novel, genetics-based, control strategies to limit the transmission of disease is urgently needed. Increased knowledge about mosquito-pathogen relationships and the molecular biology of mosquitoes now makes it possible to generate transgenic mosquito strains that are unable to transmit various parasites or viruses. Ae. aegypti genetic experiments are enabled, and limited by, the catalog of promoter elements available to drive transgene expression. To find a promoter able to drive robust expression of firefly (FF) luciferase in Ae. aegypti embryos, an experiment was designed to compare Ae. aegypti endogenous and exogenous promoters. The PUb promoter was found to be extremely robust in expression of FF luciferase in different stages of embryonic development from 2-72 hours after injection. In subsequent experiments, transformation frequency was calculated using four different promoters (IE1, UbL40, hsp82 and PUb) to express the Mos1 transposase open reading frame in Mos1-mediated transgenesis. Germline transformation efficiency and size of transgenic cluster were not significantly different when using endogenous Ae. aegypti PUb or the commonly used exogenous Drosophila hsp82 promoter to express Mos1 transposase. This study also describes the development of new tools for gene editing in the Ae. aegypti mosquito genome and the use of these tools to design an efficient gene drive system in this mosquito. Homing endonucleases (HEs) are selfish elements which catalyze double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) breaks in a sequence-specific manner. The activities of four HEs (Y2-I-AniI, I-CreI, I-PpoI, and I-SceI) were investigated for their ability to catalyze the excision of genomic segments from the Ae. aegypti genome. All four enzymes were found to be active in Ae. aegypti; however, the activity of Y2-I-AniI was higher compared to the other three enzymes. Single-strand annealing (SSA) and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathways were identified as mechanisms to repair HE-induced dsDNA breaks. TALE nucleases (TALENs) are a group of artificial enzymes capable of generating site-specific DNA lesions. To examine the ability of TALENs for gene editing in Ae. aegypti, a pair of TALENs targeted to the kmo gene were expressed from a plasmid following embryonic injection. Twenty to forty percent of fertile G0 produced white-eyed progeny which resulted from disruption of the kmo gene. Most of these individuals produced more than 20% white-eyed progeny, with some producing up to 75%. A small deletion of one to seven bp occurred at the TALEN recognition site. These results show that TALEN and HEs are highly active in the Ae. aegypti germline and can be used for gene editing and gene drive strategies in Ae. aegypti. Ph. D.

Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) is the most important defoliating pest of potato Solanum tuberosum L., in North America and Europe. Management of this pest relies heavily on chemical control and insecticide resistance is a persistent problem. This phenomenon has increased the need for developing novel insecticides, resistance evaluation, and the development of alternative control strategies regarding this insect pest. From 2010 to 2013, field and lab experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a novel insecticide tolfenpyrad on L. decemlineata. In leaf-dip assays, tolfenpyrad was highly toxic to L. decemlineata with LC50 values of 0.013 and 0.164 g ai/L for larvae and adults, respectively. Tolfenpyrad was also toxic to eggs with 0% hatching after being dipped in a field rate concentration. In field efficacy trials, potato plots treated with tolfenpyrad at rates as low as 153 g ai/ha effectively controlled L. decemlineata. In 2012, populations of L. decemlineata were collected from the Eastern Shore of VA and subjected to toxicity assays to determine current susceptibility to permethrin and oxamyl. The toxicity assays indicated an increase in toxicity to permethrin in L. decemlineata larvae (LC50 = 3.931 g ai/L) and an increase in toxicity to oxamyl in adult beetles (LC50 = 9.695 g ai/L) compared with LC50 values previously reported in 1990. In 2012, populations of L. decemlineata from Cheriton, VA, New Church, VA, Painter, VA, and Plymouth, NC were also evaluated for enzyme activity after exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of permethrin, oxamyl, and tolfenpyrad. Adult beetles were subjected to enzyme assays to measure the activity of cytochrome P450 mono-oxygenase (P450), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), general esterases, and protein content. Results from the enzyme assays indicated significantly greater esterase activity in beetles from Painter, VA exposed to permethrin [±-naphthol (F= 11.66, df= 4, 20, P

Pyrethroids are the only class of insecticides approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for use in insecticide treated nets (ITNs), the first line of malaria vector control. Widespread resistance development to pyrethroids undermines current control efforts, and hence an urgent need for alternative chemistries. I report the evaluation of pharmacological differences between insect and vertebrate acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as well as selectivity and toxicity testing of new carbamate insecticides on Anopheles gambiae, the African malaria mosquito. AChE gorge pharmacology data revealed differences between insect and vertebrate AChE that can be exploited in the design of a bivalent insecticide. Toxicokinetic analysis showed that metabolic detoxication and cuticular penetration affect toxicity of carbamates in a manner dependent on the chemical structure. Structure activity relationships of side-chain branched N-methylcarbamates emphasized the importance of structural complementarity of ligands to the AChE catalytic active site and the substrate, acetylcholine. Monovalent pyrazoles and acetophenone oxime carbamates were toxic to both susceptible and carbamate-resistant mosquitoes carrying a G119S mutation within the catalytic site. A bivalent phthalimide-pyrazole carbamate and sulfenylated phenyl N-methyl carbamates were highly toxic when topically applied onto insect but less toxic by treated filter paper assays. In vitro evaluation of a molecular mosquito-selectivity model using AChE peripheral site ligands confirmed that selectivity of PRC 472 was due to presence of I70 in mosquito, which is Y70 in human AChE. The findings presented here are important steps in the on-going search of a mosquito-selective and resistance mitigating carbamate insecticide for control of malaria mosquitoes. Ph. D.