|
Mosquitoes are one of the severe domestic pest insects in major parts of the world. They not only
are the vectors of deadly diseases like malaria, dengue, zika and chikungunya but also cause
itching nuisance on biting to their subjects. Dengue fever is an endemic in large part of world is
vectored by mosquito species Aedes aegypti. Since the last few decades, the people living in rural
and urban area of South Asian countries are at high risk of dengue fever and chikungunya due to
high density out breaks of this mosquito species. Insecticides spray is the common method to
control mosquitoes’ population that not only leaves adverse effects on the environment but also
creating resistance in this severe pest. There is an urgent need to explore low-cost and indigenous
available sources for the ecological control of mosquitoes. The lower Himalaya region of Pakistan is
rich in diversified type of flora that never been systematically investigated for insecticidal or
mosquito repellent bio-activities. Essential oils and solvents extracts of selected plants (Asterasce,
Lamiaceae, Myrtaceae and Rutaceae families) growing at different altitudes in the Himalaya region
of Pakistan will be investigated for Aedes mosquito larvicidal, insecticidal and repellent activities.
The bio-assay guided fractionation will be employed to isolate bio-active fractions and pure
compounds. GC-MS will be used to separate, identify and quantify molecules from bio-active plant
extracts and fractions. The unknown pure compounds will be identified by using spectroscopic
techniques NMR, MS, UV-VIS and FTIR. The outcome of this project will be an enhanced
knowledge of the diversity of plant species growing at different altitude of lower Himalaya region
Pakistan and the chemical composition of their secondary metabolites. We expect to find potent
compounds or fractions having larvacidal, insecticidal and mosquito repelling activities.
|