Multimodal integration of carbon dioxide and other sensory cues drives mosquito attraction to humans
Autor(es): McMeniman, Conor J.; Corfas, Roman A.; Matthews, Benjamin J.; Ritchie, Scott A.; Vosshall, Leslie B.
Resumo: Multiple sensory cues emanating from humans are thought to guide blood-feeding female mosquitoes to a host. To determine the relative contribution of carbon dioxide (CO sub(2)) detection to mosquito host-seeking behavior, we mutated the AaegGr3 gene, a subunit of the heteromeric CO sub(2) receptor in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Gr3 mutants lack electrophysiological and behavioral responses to CO sub(2). These mutants also fail to show CO sub(2)-evoked responses to heat and lactic acid, a human-derived attractant, suggesting that CO sub(2) can gate responses to other sensory stimuli. Whereas attraction of Gr3 mutants to live humans in a large semi-field environment was only slightly impaired, responses to an animal host were greatly reduced in a spatial-scale-dependent manner. Synergistic integration of heat and odor cues likely drive host-seeking behavior in the absence of CO sub(2) detection. We reveal a networked series of interactions by which multimodal integration of CO sub(2), human odor, and heat orchestrates mosquito attraction to humans.
Palavras-Chave: Receptors; Electrophysiology; Carbon dioxide; Integration; Sensory stimuli; Heat; Lactic acid; Odor; Sensory integration; Olfactory stimuli; Attractants
Imprenta: Cell, v. 156, n. 5, p. 1060-1071, 2014.
Descritores: Aedes aegypti - Cell
Data de publicação: 2014
