Mosquitoes are a buzzing and stinging nuisance, but they are also the most lethal animals for humans, due to the transmission of various viruses and parasites. some species of these “flying machines to kill” they feed exclusively on human beingsand obviously to be such successful predators, they must have developed precise targeting mechanisms to distinguish between human and animal odors.
To give an answer to this, as usual, we have thought about the researchers who are finally trying to understand how to do it and a new study Published on Nature could answer the question: what do mosquitoes detect and how do they detect it?
“We dove into the mosquito’s brain and asked, ‘What do you smell? What lights up your brain? What is activating your neurons? And how does your brain activate differently when you smell human versus animal? ‘”
he has declared Carolyn “Lindy” McBrideassistant professor of ecology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience.
The team created genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoesvectors of Zika virus, dengue virus, yellow fever virus and chikungunya virus, using CRISPR-Cas9.
These transgenic insects had brains that glowed when active, allowing scientists to view the brains in high resolution, so the researchers then fed human and animal-flavored air to these mosquitoes through a wind tunnel to determine what caught the mosquito. insect fantasy.
What results scientists have achieved on guinea pig mosquitoes
Human odor is made up of many different compounds and these same compounds are also present in most mammalian odors, but in different relationships; Previous research has found that compounds alone are not attractive to mosquitoes, hence one challenge is to determine the exact ratios of the enticing compounds.
The team used the smell of 16 humans, two rats, two guinea pigs, two quail, one sheep and four dogs to whet the mosquito’s appetite, and the way they collected these samples was quite interesting. : For the sheep, they had several fleeces donated to a farm and for the dogs they visited a grooming salon and collected cut hair from the adorable little dogs.
And for humans … well …
“For human samples, we had a group of very good volunteers. We told them not to shower for a few days, then they stripped naked and lay down in a Teflon bag. “
said the study’s author Jessica Zung.
Now you may be wondering “because brave human volunteers must be naked? ” Well, others clothing fibers could skew the data as they carry their own smell.
Once they recovered all of these odors, they designed an intelligent system to emit odors to the genetically engineered mosquitoes in the imaging setup area. The mosquito’s brain has 60 nerve centers called glomeruli, and the team initially speculated that most of these centers would be involved in helping the mosquito find the next meal and distinguish human odors from animals, but it turned out that it was the opposite.
“When I first saw brain activity, I couldn’t believe it: only two glomeruli were involved”, “This contradicted everything we expected, so I repeated the experiment several times, with more humans, more animals. I couldn’t believe it. It’s that simple.”
he said Zhilei Zhaoa research team member.
Through experiments, mosquitoes have been determined to detect two chemicals (decanal and undecanal), which are enriched in human odor and likely come from unique human skin lipids rather than sweat.
Overall, this exciting collaborative research can help develop new repellentsallowing all of us to enjoy the beautiful outside air without the fear of having our blood stolen by these “bad” insects.
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