Genome-wide analysis of cytochrome P450 genes in the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) monooxygenases represent a superfamily of heme containing proteins involved in the metabolism of endogenous and xenobiotic compounds in virtually all aerobic organisms. In this study, we performed a genome-wide analysis of cytochrome P450 genes in the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti. The genome of A. aegypti contains a total of 160 cytochrome P450 genes distributed in 18 families and 64 subfamilies. Four of them (CYP6N10P, CYP9J25P, CYP325E2P, and CYP325X3P) appear to be pseudogenes, meaning that they do not code for any functional protein. The gene families CYP6, CYP9 and CYP329 contain the highest number of genes (84). Among them, the genes in CYP6 and CYP9 families are believed to be the most important in insecticide detoxification. The phylogenetic analysis of their deduced amino acid sequences shows nine important groups of cytochrome P450 proteins. The expression profiles of three selected genes (CYP6AA5, CYP6AL1, and CYP9J32) and two alternative splice variants of CYP4J16 were investigated by reverse transcription quantitative PCR before and after A. aegypti larvae were exposed to pyrethroid insecticides (permethrin, cypermethrin and deltamethrin). Our results showed a differential expression patterns of these genes depending on the insecticides used.