Seasonal diet-based resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides in the fossorial water vole (Arvicola amphibius)

2021

International audience; Anticoagulant rodenticides (AR) resistance has been defined as "a major loss of efficacy due to the presence of a strain of rodent with a heritable and commensurately reduced sensitivity to the anticoagulant". The mechanism that supports this resistance has been identified as based on mutations in the Vkorc1 gene leading to severe resistance in rats and mice. This study evaluates the validity of this definition in the fossorial water vole and explores the possibility of a non-genetic diet-based resistance in a strict herbivorous rodent species. Genetic support was explored by sequencing the Vkorc1 gene and the diet-based resistance was explored by the dosing of vitam…