| Title: | Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Detect Acidic Volatiles Found in Human Odor Using the IR8a Pathway |
| Author(s): | Raji JI; Melo N; Castillo JS; Gonzalez S; Saldana V; Stensmyr MC; DeGennaro M; |
| Address: | "Department of Biological Sciences & Biomolecular Sciences Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA. Department of Biology, Lund University, 22362 Lund, Sweden. Department of Biological Sciences & Biomolecular Sciences Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA. Electronic address: mdegenna@fiu.edu" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.045 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-0445 (Electronic) 0960-9822 (Print) 0960-9822 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Mosquitoes use olfaction as a primary means of detecting their hosts. Previously, the functional ablation of a family of Aedes aegypti olfactory receptors, the odorant receptors (ORs), was not sufficient to reduce host seeking in the presence of carbon dioxide (CO(2)). This suggests the olfactory receptors that remain, such as the ionotropic receptors (IRs), could play a significant role in host detection. To test this, we disrupted the Ir8a co-receptor in Ae. aegypti using CRISPR/Cas9. We found that Ir8a mutant female mosquitoes are not attracted to lactic acid, a behaviorally active component of human sweat, and they lack odor-evoked responses to acidic volatiles. The loss of Ir8a reduces mosquito attraction to humans and their odor. We show that the CO(2)-detection pathway is necessary but not sufficient for IR8a to detect human odor. Our study reveals that the IR8a pathway is crucial for an anthropophilic vector mosquito to effectively seek hosts. VIDEO ABSTRACT" |
| Keywords: | "Aedes/*physiology Animals *Chemotaxis Female Humans Insect Proteins/*genetics/metabolism Male *Odorants Receptors, Ionotropic Glutamate/*genetics/metabolism Volatile Organic Compounds/*metabolism Aedes aegypti, carbon dioxide IR8a Orco host seeking human;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineRaji, Joshua I Melo, Nadia Castillo, John S Gonzalez, Sheyla Saldana, Valeria Stensmyr, Marcus C DeGennaro, Matthew eng K22 AI112585/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ U01 CK000510/CK/NCEZID CDC HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. England 2019/04/02 Curr Biol. 2019 Apr 22; 29(8):1253-1262.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.045. Epub 2019 Mar 28" |
