kdr: can a single mutation produce an entire insecticide resistance phenotype?

Abstract

Knockdown resistance (kdr) is closely associated with DDT and pyrethroid resistance in the major malaria vector Anopheles gambiae and is considered to be causative of the resistance phenotype. The same association does not apply to Sudanese populations of the closely related malaria vector A. arabiensis. Speculation on this discrepancy and on the incidence of multiple insecticide resistance and cross-resistance has implications for the manner in which entomological surveys are conducted in the field as well as on the array of technologies employed to produce usable data.