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It is essential to understand how mosquitoes detect their prey to better defend themselves. It is in this spirit that geneticists from Florida International University in Miami have focused on a key protein found in some mosquito antennas that seems essential to these leech's ability to locate human hosts, reports Science News.
The researchers specifically studied Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are responsible for the spread of zika and dengue fever. These insects also tend to prefer human blood to any other animal, so they are particularly troublesome.
It turns out that human skin and its microbiome release a lot of lactic acid compared to other vertebrates, especially in our sweat, which is one of the main odorants that mosquitoes produce. The geneticist Matthew DeGennaro and his team were able to identify a protein, IR8a, which is found in mosquito antennas (their main sensing organ), is particularly apt to detect lactic acid.
In addition, tests showed that mutant mosquitoes lacking IR8a or whose version was malfunctioning were about half as likely to land on a human arm or sweat-stained sock as normal mosquitoes.
This means that breeding mosquitoes with low lactic acid receptors could significantly reduce the impact of mosquito-borne diseases on human populations, as well as the number of bites that we all experience. It's a major discovery in the battle against our blood-sucking insects.
It should be noted however that the detection of mosquito odors is much more complex than for vertebrates and that the mere fact of attacking it at IR8a is only the beginning of a solution. In addition, lactic acid is not the only trap at the base of mosquitoes. Carbon dioxide, what we breathe, is like a "mosquito repellent" according to DeGennaro, and other information, such as atmospheric heat, moisture and the sight of something pleasant, are all factors that explain how mosquitoes hunt us.
Our chemical signatures are complex and mosquito sniffers have evolved to adapt to this complexity.
Nevertheless, identifying IR8a is an open door to understanding the meaning of mosquitoes, which should lead to more targeted genetic solutions to our mosquito problems, as well as the development of more effective and more environmentally friendly repellents.
How mosquitoes detect human sweat
Scientists are becoming familiar with the genetic mechanisms used by mosquitoes to locate their prey.
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