Abstract
Insects use their olfactory systems to obtain chemical information on mating partners, oviposition sites and food. The yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, an important vector of human infectious diseases, shows strong preference for human blood meals. This study investigated the chemical basis of host detection by characterizing the neuronal responses of antennal olfactory sensilla of female Ae. aegypti to 103 compounds from human skin emanations. The effect of blood feeding on the responses of olfactory sensilla to these odorants was examined as well. Sensilla SBTII, GP, and three functional subtypes of SST (SST1, SST2, and SST3) responded to most of the compounds tested. Olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) ‘A’ and ‘B’ in the trichoid sensilla, either activated or inhibited, were involved in the odour coding process. Compounds from different chemical classes elicited responses with different temporal structures and different response patterns across the olfactory sensilla. Except for their increased responses to several odorants, blood-fed mosquitoes generally evoked reduced responses to specific aldehydes, alcohols, aliphatics/aromatics, ketones, and amines through the SST1, SST2, SBTI, SBTII and GP sensilla. The odorants eliciting diminished responses in female mosquitoes after blood feeding may be important in Ae. aegypti host-seeking activity and thus can be candidates for mosquito attractants in the process of this disease vector management.
Highlights
Insects rely to a large extent on olfactory cues to locate mating partners, oviposition sites or hosts for food[1,2,3]
We explored the roles of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) ‘A’ and ‘B’ of trichoid sensilla in odour coding for the peripheral sensory system of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes, as well as the temporal dynamics of the neuronal responses elicited by structurally related compounds and how the spatial relationships between these compounds is represented in odour space
Five morphological types of olfactory sensilla have been previously identified on the antennae of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes, namely long sharp tipped (LST), short sharp tipped (SST), short blunt tipped I (SBTI), short blunt tipped II (SBTII), and grooved peg (GP)[25,26]
Summary
Insects rely to a large extent on olfactory cues to locate mating partners, oviposition sites or hosts for food[1,2,3]. The mosquito Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus), a vector of many important human diseases including yellow fever, dengue fever and Zika fever, has been found to show strong preference for human hosts over other warm-blooded animals for blood meals[3,4]. At present, insecticides such as pyrethroids are the first choice for strategies to control mosquitoes, but the development of resistance to these chemicals has largely compromised their efficacy for mosquito management[5]. We examined the effect of blood feeding on the sensitivity of olfactory sensilla to human odorants in order to identify those that may be important in Ae. aegypti host-seeking activity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
