International Journal of Pest Management (2011) 57, 61-65

Colin V. Prescott, Alan P. Buckle, J. George Gibbings, N.W. Allan and Alexander M. Stuart (2011)
Anticoagulant resistance in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus Berk.) in Kent - a VKORC1 single nucleotide polymorphism, tyrosine139phenylalanine, new to the UK
International Journal of Pest Management 57 (1), 61-65
Abstract: A sample of 10 Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) was taken for DNA resistance testing from an agricultural site in Kent where applications of the anticoagulant rodenticide bromadiolone had been unsuccessful. All animals tested were homozygous for the single nucleotide VKORC1 polymorphism tyrosine139phenylalanine, or Y139F. This is a common resistance mutation found extensively in France and Belgium but not previously in the UK. Y139F confers a significant level of resistance to first-generation anticoagulants, such as chlorophacinone, and to the second-generation compound bromadiolone. Another compound widely used in the UK, difenacoum, is also thought to be partially resisted by rats which carry Y139F. A silent VKORC1 mutation was also found in all rats tested. The presence of a third important VKORC1 mutation which confers resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides in widespread use in the UK, the others being Y139C and L120Q, further threatens the ability of pest control practitioners to deliver effective rodent control.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Alexander M. Stuart

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
pesticide resistance of pest
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Rattus norvegicus		Belgium
	Rattus norvegicus		France
	Rattus norvegicus		United Kingdom