Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Detect Acidic Volatiles Found in Human Odor Using the IR8a Pathway.

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 (CO₂). 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 CO₂-detection pat

SUBMITTER: Raji JI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6482070 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature