Modulation of Host Learning in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes.

ABSTRACT: How mosquitoes determine which individuals to bite has important epidemiological consequences. This choice is not random; most mosquitoes specialize in one or a few vertebrate host species, and some individuals in a host population are preferred over others. Mosquitoes will also blood feed from other hosts when their preferred is no longer abundant, but the mechanisms mediating these shifts between hosts, and preferences for certain individuals within a host species, remain unclear. Here, we show that olfactory learning may contribute to Aedes aegypti mosquito biting preferences and host shifts. Training and testing to scents of humans and other host species showed that mosquitoes can aversively learn the scent of specific humans and single odorants and learn to avoid the scent of rats (bu

SUBMITTER: Vinauger C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6771430 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature