Abstract
Natural selection favours a restricted host breadth in disease vector mosquitoes, indicating that there is an adaptive value associated with maintaining plasticity in host preference. One mechanism to maintain such plasticity is via the detection of generic cues by conserved peripheral olfactory pathways, which when perceived in different host odour contexts enable the identification of and discrimination among potential host species. Here, we show that the context of an odour cue shapes host perception in mosquitoes, by altering the release rate of the generic host-related volatile (R)-1-octen-3-ol, within its natural range, and in the background odour of known hosts and non-hosts. This result highlights that host recognition is contextual and dependent on quantitative and qualitative differences in odour blends and the olfactory codes evoked. From the perspective of vector management, understanding the perception of odour blends and their context is essential to the process of developing synthetic blends for the optimal attraction of mosquitoes in efforts to control and monitor populations.
Highlights
Inherent host preference is often a marked characteristic of mosquito disease vectors [1,2,3], and while blood-feeding preference is inherent in mosquitoes [1,3], it can be modulated by host availability [4,5]
Natural selection on the malaria vectors Anopheles gambiae sensu lato, and the arbovirus vectors Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus has, been shown to favour a restricted host breadth [3], indicating an adaptive value to maintaining plasticity [1]. We hypothesize that such plasticity could be maintained through the use of generic cues, which are common to many host species and detected by conserved olfactory receptor neuron pathways, placed in different host odour contexts to identify and discriminate among potential host species
The gas chromatograph (GC)-SSR and GC and mass spectrometer (GC-MS) analyses identified (R)-1-octen-3-ol as a key natural ligand for one of the olfactory receptor neurons of the capitate peg sensillum, the B cell. (R)-1-octen-3-ol was present in the cattle hair (0.6 ± 0.35 ng min−1 equivalent) and human extracts (0.06 ± 0.04 ng min−1 equivalent), but was not detected in the chicken extract
Summary
Inherent host preference is often a marked characteristic of mosquito disease vectors [1,2,3], and while blood-feeding preference is inherent in mosquitoes [1,3], it can be modulated by host availability [4,5]. Natural selection on the malaria vectors Anopheles gambiae sensu lato, and the arbovirus vectors Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus has, been shown to favour a restricted host breadth [3], indicating an adaptive value to maintaining plasticity [1]. We hypothesize that such plasticity could be maintained through the use of generic cues, which are common to many host species and detected by conserved olfactory receptor neuron pathways, placed in different host odour contexts to identify and discriminate among potential host species
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