We cannot always avoid using insecticides. It is important to understand how they work, so we can use them safely to prevent the development of insecticide resistance in insects. Synthesized Pyrethrin derivatives are common household and commercial insecticides. Although Pyrethrins are naturally derived, they are neurotoxins that target neuronal sodium channels. Current studies focus on understanding sodium channels in insects, what mutations might lead to insecticide resistance, and how insecticides are metabolized in the target and non-target species. Recently scientists use sequencing to follow the transfer of an insecticide-resistance mutation between the Anopheles gambiae species in Ghana. Once we understand how a system works and how insecticides affect various exposed species that knowledge can be used to design both safer and effective insecticides and understand how to use them more selectively. For more information on applications of Illumina technology in the field of Transcriptomics, please visit us at Illumina: RNA sequencing http://www.illumina.com/applications/sequencing/rna.ilmn Products: HiSeq: http://systems.illumina.com/systems/hiseq_2500_1500.ilmn Publication Links: PMID: 24963649 | Clarkson CS., et al. (2014): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24963649 PMID: 24704279 | Dong K., et al. (2014): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24704279 Publication Research Reviews: Metagenomics 2nd Edition http://www.illumina.com/documents/products/research_reviews/metagenomics_research_review.pdf The Science Mondays (SciMon) series is brought to you by Illumina http://www.illumina.com/ Illumina hosts Swati Kadam, Ph.D., Scientific Liaison, Scientific Affairs and Jacques Retief, Associate Director Scientific Affairs deliver 5 minutes of scientific enlightenment on the latest discoveries.