A molecular understanding of pesticide sequestration by insect carboxylesterases could guide the design of inhibitors to help circumvent carboxylesterase-mediated metabolic resistance to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides in insect disease vectors, such as the mosquito.
In a recently accepted paper from our group, entitled “The structure of an insecticide sequestering carboxylesterase from the disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus: what makes an enzyme a good insecticide sponge?”, we present the first structure of Cqestβ2, a carboxylesterase involved in insecticide sequestration in Culex quinquefasciatus, and assess its role in insecticide resistance.
Congratulations to Davis and all those involved in the preparation of this paper which has recently been accepted to Biochemistry.
